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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee |
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Date |
5 June 2024 |
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Present |
Councillors Douglas (Chair), Lomas, Widdowson, J Burton (Substitute for Councillor Kilbane) and Waller (Substitute for Councillor Ayre) |
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Apologies
Officers in attendance
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Councillors Ayre, and Kilbane
Dan Moynihan – Senior Lawyer |
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1. Declarations of Interest (5:30pm)
At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare if they had any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in the business on the agenda. None were declared.
2. Public Participation (5:31pm)
It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at
the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
Gwen Swinburn spoke on Agenda Item 3 and highlighted the importance of accountability in the appointment of Local Authority Company Directors. Gwen spoke on the lack of an accountable appointment process resulting in the recommendation of providing the Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Monitoring Officer with permission to delegate these powers, without scrutiny.
3. Veritau Public Sector Limited - Appointment of Director (5:34pm)
The Senior Lawyer presented the report and reported a correction to the report in that “Chief Operating Officer” in regard to paragraphs 28 and 29 should be replaced by “Head of Paid Service”.
The Senior Lawyer introduced an alternative recommendation to the report for members’ approval, as a result from concerns raised, in that members would:
· “Appoint the Director of Finance of the Council to represent the Council on the board of directors of Veritau Public Sector Limited;”
And that the previous recommendation to:
· “Delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Operating Officer of the Council to select and appoint any member, and/or officer, and/or person willing to act as a director to represent the Council on the board of directors of Veritau Public Sector Limited, and where necessary in the future remove and/or replace said individuals from the board, pursuant to Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee’s delegated authority under Article 11 and paragraph 5.2 of Article 12 of the Council’s Constitution and in line with company law, the company’s articles of association and any agreement between the company’s members in force from time to time”;
i. Would be amended to remove the words “and/or person willing to act as a director”,
ii. Would be deferred to a future meeting of the committee.
This amendment to the recommendations was moved by the Chair, and seconded by Councillor Lomas.
Members voted on the motion to accept the Chair’s amendment to the recommendations, and the result of the vote was as follows:
5 votes in favour (Councillors Douglas, J Burton, Lomas, Waller, Widdowson).
0 votes against.
The motion was carried, and members then voted on the approval of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee’s appointment of the Director of Finance to represent the Council on the board of directors of Veritau Public Sector Limited, and the result of the vote was as follows:
5 votes in favour (Councillors Douglas, J Burton, Lomas, Waller, Widdowson).
0 votes against.
Resolved:
· That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee approved the appointment of the Director of Finance of the Council to represent the Council on the board of directors of Veritau Public Sector Limited.
· That the delegation of authority to select and appoint any member or officer willing to act as a director to represent the Council on the board of directors of Veritau Public Sector Limited, and where necessary in the future remove and/or replace said individuals from the board, pursuant to the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee’s delegated authority under Article 11 and paragraph 5.2 of Article 12 of the Council’s Constitution and in line with company law, the company’s articles of association and any agreement between the company’s members in force from time to time, would be deferred to a future meeting of the committee.
4. Work Plan (5:59pm)
Members considered and confirmed the draft work plan for the municipal year 2024-2025.
The Chair reported that the Chief Officer Restructure report had not been able to be brought to this meeting, but would be received by the committee at a future meeting where appropriate.
Resolved: That the members confirm and accept the committee’s draft work plan for the municipal year 2024-2025.
Reason: To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work for the municipal year 2024-2025.
Cllr Douglas, Chair
[The meeting started at 5.30 pm and finished at 6.00 pm].