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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 |
14 July 2025 |
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Present |
Councillors Douglas (Chair) [until 5:56pm], Kilbane (Vice-Chair) [in the Chair from 5:56pm], Ayre, Lomas [Substitute for Councillor Douglas from 5:56pm] |
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Officers in attendance |
Helen Whiting – Chief Officer – HR and Support Services |
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27. Apologies for Absence (5:30pm)
No apologies were received.
28. 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.
Councillor Douglas declared an interest in relation to item 8, City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited - Appointment of Director and Chair Nominations, in that she was included in the proposed nominations and as such would not participate in consideration of this item.
29. Minutes (5:31pm)
Resolved: That the minutes of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee held on 2 June 2025 be approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record.
30. Public Participation (5:32pm)
It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at
the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
31. Changes to Membership of Committees and Other Bodies (5:32pm)
The Committee considered and confirmed the change of Membership for the SACRE Committee to appoint Tony Lawton to be appointed as a group member for group A representing Faith/Catholic.
Resolved: That Tony Lawton be appointed to SACRE group A to represent Faith/Catholic on the SACRE Committee.
Reason: In order to make appropriate Council appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies for the remainder of the current municipal year.
32. Recruitment of Head of Paid Services (5:33pm)
The Committee considered the report presented by the Chief Officer - HR and Support Services and it was reported that the Chief Operating Officer (COO) had expressed his intention of retiring at around Easter 2026, and the Committee were presented with options for moving forward.
Members voted on the motion to adopt the recommendations set out on page 24 of the agenda, and the result of the vote was as follows:
2 votes in favour, 1 vote against, 0 abstentions.
Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee:
i. Approved the recruitment of a Chief Executive as a replacement of the Chief Operating Officer following the early notification that the post holder intends to retire at Easter 2026.
ii. Confirmed the pay package for the role of Chief Executive to allow the post to be advertised, in agreement with page 21 of the agenda.
iii. Would establish an Appointments Sub-Committee for the role of Chief Executive and would delegate sufficient powers to the Sub-Committee enabling it to conduct the recruitment process and select and appoint a candidate, subject to the requirements of the standing orders on appointment.
iv. Approved the engagement of an executive recruitment consultant to undertake an executive search to aid the recruitment process, this process will follow procurement processes.
v. Noted the proposed timetable for the recruitment campaign, highlighted on page 22 of the agenda.
Reason: To allow timely appointment to the Head of Paid Services/Chief Executive in line with the Council’s Constitution and relevant legislation, as well as to ensure that there is a handover and seamless transition of leadership when the COO retires.
Members expressed words of thanks to the outgoing COO and wished him well in his retirement.
33. Work Plan (5:55pm)
Members discussed the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026 and it was resolved:
i. That a report on the Appointment of a New YorWaste Director following the committee’s approval of the temporary appointment of City of York Council’s (CYC) Director of Finance, to represent the Council on the board of directors for YorWaste from 2 June following the resignation of former Director of Environment, Transport and Planning would be received in the meeting scheduled for 2 September 2025.
ii. That members considered the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.
Reason: To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work for the municipal year 2025-2026.
34. City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited - Appointment of Director and Chair Nominations (5:56pm)
The Chief Officer - HR and Support Services presented the report and highlighted to members that City of York Trading and Work with York were now operating as separate organisations as of early 2025.
The Chief Officer - HR and Support Services noted a correction to paragraph 7 on page 31 of the agenda in that “Cllr Kallum Taylor” should instead read “Cllr John Moroney”.
Members voted on the motion to adopt the recommendations set out on pages 32 and 33 of the agenda, and the result of the vote was as follows:
3 votes in favour, 0 votes against, 0 abstentions.
It was resolved that Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee:
i. Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to represent the Council on the Board of Directors for City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited.
ii. Approved the delegated authority to the Managing Director of Work with York Limited to make all the necessary filings with the Registrar of Companies and necessary updates to the statutory registers and local administration in relation to this appointment.
iii. Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to act as Chair on the Board of Directors for Work With York Limited.
iv. Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to act as Chair on the Board of Directors for City of York Trading Limited.
Reason:
To ensure that City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited meets the requirements of the Control Test under the Teckal Exemption under contained under Reg 12(1) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the requirements for Vertical Arrangements under Schedule 2, Part 1, Para. 2 of the Procurement Act 2023.
Cllr Douglas, Chair [until 5:56pm]
Cllr Kilbane, Vice-Chair, in the Chair [from 5:56pm]
[The meeting started at 5.30 pm and finished at 6.02 pm].