Agenda and minutes

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure, as set out on the agenda.

It is a legal requirement that the first formal business at the Annual General Meeting shall be the election of a Councillor to be the Chair(man) of the Council. The term of office of the Chair(man) expires on the election of his/her successor at the Annual Meeting of the Council in 2013.

The present Chair(man) of the Council is Councillor Peter Edwards who will preside over the election of his successor.

Once the new Chair(man) is elected, he will make and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and receive the Chain of Office from the former Chair(man), after which he may address the Council.

The newly elected Chair(man) will preside from this point in the proceedings.

It was proposed by Councillor John Bull, seconded by Councillor Tim Ball, and supported by Councillors Les Kew and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that Councillor Rob Appleyard be elected Chairman of the Council for year 2012/13.

Councillor Appleyard made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office and received the Chain of Office from Councillor Peter Edwards and presented the Consort`s Badge to his wife, Alison.

Councillor Appleyard then addressed the Council. During his speech, Councillor Appleyard indicated that he did not have a preferred form of address but asked only that the office of Chairman be treated with respect.

FROM THIS STAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS, COUNCILLOR ROB APPLEYARD, AS CHAIRMAN, PRESIDED AT THE MEETING.

The Council will be invited to appoint a Councillor to be the Vice-Chair(man) of the Council. The term of office of the Vice-Chair(man) expires on the election of his successor at the Annual Meeting of the Council in 2013.

Once the new Vice-Chair(man) is elected, he will make and sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and receive the Badge of Office from the Chair(man), after which he may thank the Council for the appointment.

It was proposed by Councillor Katie Hall, seconded by Councillor Tim Warren, and supported by Councillors John Bull and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that Councillor Neil Butters be elected Vice Chairman for the Council year 2012/13.

Councillor Butters made and signed his Declaration of Acceptance of Office, received the Badge of Office from Councillor Appleyard and thanked the Council for his appointment.

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair(man).

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Steve Hedges, it was RESOLVED that the minutes of 14^th February 2012 and 28^th March 2012 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies were received from Councillor Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Councillor Appleyard presented Councillor Edwards with his past Chairman’s badge.  Councillor Edwards then presented the past Chairman’s Consort’s badge to his wife, Anne.

It was proposed by Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Dine Romero and supported by Councillors John Bull and Doug Deacon and

RESOLVED that this Council places on record its appreciation of the services performed by Councillor Peter Edwards in the office of Chairman of the Council for 2011/12.

Councillor Edwards addressed the Council and, in so doing, thanked Members and officers for their support during his year in office. Councillor Edwards paid tribute to the support which he had received from Councillor Appleyard in his role as Vice Chairman over the previous Council Year and wished him well for his term of office as Chairman.  Councillor Edwards also thanked his wife Anne for her support throughout his year as Chairman.  Councillor Edwards presented the Council with a commemorative Chairman’s gavel and block at the end of his speech, which Councillor Appleyard thanked him for on behalf of the Council. 

The Chairman then;

1.  Welcomed the new Chief Executive, Dr Jo Farrar, to the meeting;

2.  Welcomed two members of the Youth Parliament who were visiting the meeting, Mike Fidanolgu (Bath) and William Bridges (North East Somerset);

3.  Indicated that he proposed to waive Council Rule 37, so as not to permit Members seconding motions or amendments being able to reserve their right to speak until later in the debate, but to require all seconders if they wished to speak to do so when they seconded the motion or amendment. The Council agreed to this proposal.

4.  Informed Council that, should the meeting continue past 8.30pm, he would announce a comfort break.

There were no items of urgent business.

In accordance with the rules within the Constitution concerning Chief Officer’s action (Urgency - Part 4 (G) rule 3), it is reported that the Chief Executive took a decision in February 2012 to support the early implementation of the 2012/13 Treasury Management strategy to enable current treasury activity with the Nat West Bank (the Council’s appointed main bankers) to be maintained, following the downgrading alert for its parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

This decision was deemed as urgent and as falling within Council policy and was taken following consultation with Political Group Leaders.

On a motion from Councillor David Bellotti, seconded by Councillor Paul Crossley, it was

RESOLVED

To note that, in accordance with the rules within Constitution concerning Chief Officer’s action (Urgency – Part 4 (G) rule 3), the Chief Executive took a decision in February 2012 to support the early implementation of the 2012/13 Treasury Management strategy to enable current treasury activity with the Nat West Bank (the Council’s appointed main bankers) to be maintained, following the downgrading alert for its parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

This decision was deemed as urgent and as falling within Council policy and was taken following consultation with Political Group Leaders.

This report invites Council to consider its non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2012 to May 2013 and associated annual business.

The Council considered a report inviting its approval for the non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2012 to May 2013.

On a motion from Councillor Crossley, seconded by Councillor Nathan Hartley, it was

RESOLVED to

1.  Approve the structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making and Policy Development & Scrutiny working as set out in the Constitution and identified in its current form in the report at Appendix 2;

2.  Note the revised political proportionality as set out in the version of ‘Appendix 1 – Revised’ attached to the minutes, updated to reflect the changed numbers of Conservative group and Independent group councillors;

3.  Appoint the Committees, Panels and other bodies as set out in Appendix 2 with the membership, terms of reference and delegated powers as set out in the Appendix subject to a working group (of 4 Members in political proportion 1:1:1:1) being established to review the remits of the PDS Panels and authority being delegated to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Group Leaders, to amend and publicise any amendments arising from the working group’s findings

4.  Approve the addition of three new powers within the Public Rights of Way delegation scheme, as set out in section 12 of the report;

5.  Approve the allocation of seats on the Committees and Panels as set out in ‘Appendix 1 – Revised’ to these minutes, such seats to be filled in accordance with the nominations made by the political groups;

6.  Appoint to chair each committee and panel those Councillors as may from time to time be nominated by the political group to whom the chairmanship of the body is allocated (as set out in Appendix 1 - Revised);

7.  Authorise the Monitoring Officer to fill any casual vacancies in membership of all the bodies constituted and vacancy in the office of Chair of such bodies in accordance with the wishes of the political groups;

8.  Determine the bodies on which independent members are to have seats  as either voting or non-voting members and appoint such members accordingly;

9.  Authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairs of the Policy Development & Scrutiny Panels, to constitute and support any required Panel joint working as outlined in paragraph 6.1 of the report;

10.Approve the addition of the Crime & Disorder Reduction Strategy and the Health & Wellbeing Strategy into the Council’s Policy & Budget framework, as set out in section 13 of the report;

11.Agree that the Leader of Council, in consultation with Group Leaders, will identify the roles, remits and distribution of Member Champions;

12.Agree the following recommendations from the Standards Committee;

a.  That a Standards Committee be established with Terms of Reference as specified in pages 53 and 54 of the report to Council, subject to membership arrangements agreed by Council as set out below;

b.  That the membership comprise:

  i.  3 independent members (with 3 substitutes)

  ii.  3 parish representatives (with 3 substitutes)

  iii.  5 Bath & North East Somerset Councillors in political proportion;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Following the Cabinet resolution in February 2012 to refresh the Vision, replace the eight priorities with three objectives and create a series of outcomes and values to help determine the kind of organisation the Council wants to be, these developments are now presented to Council for adoption.

The Council considered a report which sought its approval to the refreshed Council Vision following its Cabinet approval in February.  A series of outcomes and values have been developed to help shape the future direction of the Council and these were presented for adoption.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Nathan Hartley, it was

RESOLVED

1.  To agree the refresh of the Council’s Vision;

2.  To replace the Council’s previous eight priorities with three objectives that describe what it is trying to achieve and enable it to focus resources; and

3.  To update the Council’s values to reflect how the Council will operate and the kind of organisation it will be.

[The above resolution was passed with 63 councillors voting in favour, 0 against and 1 abstention.]

There were no items from the public.

There were no items from Councillors.