Agenda item

To consider a complaint of breach of the Code of Conduct received in respect of a City of York Councillor and determine next steps.

Members considered a report which set out a Code of Conduct complaint received in respect of a CYC Councillor.  Details of the complaint were presented in the private report referred to in Minute 13 above.

Members first considered procedural concerns which had been raised and were satisfied that the case handling procedure had been correctly applied.

Members were asked to decide whether to:

A.   rule that the complaint was out of scope, or

B.   rule that the complaint was in scope and choose either to:

                          i)          take no further action

                        ii)          seek to resolve the matter informally, or

                       iii)          refer the matter for investigation.

Having considered the information, including the advice of the Independent Person, Members agreed that while it was not possible to establish what, if anything, had been said by the Subject Member, the hand gestures were open to interpretation and had the potential to offend. A letter from the Chair, which highlighted the importance of high standards of conduct in demonstrating the Council’s values of respect and inclusivity, and advising against the use of hand gestures, would be an appropriate informal resolution of the matter.

Resolved:   That Option B(ii) be approved, and the matter be resolved informally by way of a letter of advice from the Chair of the Joint Standards Committee to all parties and connected persons.

Reason:      The Sub-Committee considered that this matter was capable of constituting breaches of the Member Code of Conduct and that the matter should be resolved informally.