Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive introduced the report which explained that Councillor Chris Ryder had served as Deputy Mayor since last year’s Annual Council Meeting and Members would be asked to elect her as Mayor at this year’s Annual Meeting. In accordance with the Order of Precedence in Appendix 2, Members had been approached to ascertain if they were willing and able to have their name put forward for appointment as Deputy Mayor for 2016-17.

In the course of this process, some members had highlighted that their decision on whether to put themselves forward for the role may depend on the results of the Borough elections in May 2016. Therefore it had been proposed that no nomination was put forward for Deputy Mayor elect at this stage and the nomination for Deputy Mayor was put to Annual Council in May following the elections. He had taken this proposal to the Group Leaders meeting and after discussion they had agreed to the recommendations as set out in the report.

As Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ryder, was concerned that she should have been asked for her view out of courtesy. Her opinion was that it was an honour for any Councillor to be put forward as Deputy Mayor when they became eligible and the lack of willingness to make a commitment at this stage demonstrated a lack of commitment to the role. The Mayor also highlighted that the appointment of the Deputy Mayor at Annual Council was only two days before the inauguration ceremony at the Town Hall and therefore could cause difficulties in finalising the details for the programme.

A number of members spoke in support of the recommendation to defer the nomination. They agreed that it was a great honour to be Mayor/Deputy Mayor but it was a personal and not a political decision and it had to be the right decision for the right person at the right time.

A separate vote was requested on recommendation 3.  Recommendations 1 and 2 were unanimous and recommendation 3 was CARRIED.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    The Order of Precedence in Appendix 2 be noted,

2.    Councillor Chris Ryder will be put to the Annual Council Meeting for election as Mayor for the Municipal year 2016 - 2017.

3.      The nomination for Deputy Mayor for the Municipal year 2016 – 2017 will be put to the Annual Council Meeting.