Agenda and minutes

The Chairman of the Council welcomed everyone to the Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors:

Emma Baker

David Bellamy

Steven Cunnington

James Denniston

Ben Green

Graham Jeal

Gloria Johnson

Anna Kelly

Zoe Lane

Bridget Ley

Nikki Manterfield

Nick Robins

Penny Robins

Rob Shorrock

Vanessa Smith

Elvis Stooke

Jane Wood

Sue Woolley

This report seeks the Council’s approval to appoint an Interim Monitoring Officer.

Members considered a report on the appointment of an Interim Monitoring Officer.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report. All political Group Leaders had been consulted about the interim appointment of Angela Wakefield, the Monitoring Officer at Rutland County Council.

It was outlined that the absence of a Monitoring Officer at the authority would cause problems, including (but not limited to) the following:

-          one of the roles of the Monitoring Officer was to ensure the Council remained within the law when taking decision, and without anyone in post this would of course be difficult.

-          Councillors would also lack crucial Constitutional guidance that a Monitoring Officer would give.

-          The continued absence of a Monitoring Officer would lead to other staff being overburdened with emails and correspondence.

-          The Monitoring Officer investigated any potential breaches of the Code of Conduct. There would be no-one to respond to any potential breaches in their absence.

The following points were highlighted during debate between members and by officers in response to member questions:

-          Thanks were given to Graham Watts, the outgoing Monitoring Officer for his supportive advice and guidance during his time at South Kesteven District Council. Councillors wished him well for his future career.

-          A point of order was raised about Mandatory Standing Orders and whether they had been followed in putting the recommendation within the report before Councillors. Rutland County Council had been subjected to a similar situation (the lack of a Monitoring Officer) previously and had amended their Constitution to reflect that Council could take a decision on an ‘interim’ Monitoring Officer without the recruitment and selection process taking place through another Committee. However, it was clear that Full Council was the decision-making body for the appointment of Statutory Officers.

-          Legal advice on the route to appointment of the Monitoring Officer had been sought, and whilst it would have been ideal for Employment Committee to scrutinise the appointment, there was a bigger risk that the Council would be left with no Monitoring Officer.

-          An interim appointment had no definitive timescale, though the Chief Executive was hopeful that the position of Director of Legal and Governance would be subjected to Employment Committee’s scrutiny by September at the earliest as the recruitment process for the position had already started.

Having been moved and seconded, and following a vote, it was AGREED:

DECISION

That Full Council:

1. Approve the appointment of Ms Angela Wakefield as the Interim Monitoring Officer with immediate effect.

2. Delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, HR and Economic Development to use the Local Priorities Reserve to fund any necessary costs associated with the interim staffing arrangements as well as the recruitment of a Director for Law and Governance.

The meeting closed at 11:29am.