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Issue - meetings

Appointment and Remuneration of Independent Persons

 

 

Meeting: 31/07/2024 - Council (Item 22)

22 Appointment and Remuneration of Independent Persons pdf icon PDF 105 KB

Purpose

To appoint Independent Persons for standards matters, commence a subsequent recruitment campaign, and approve allowances payable.

 

Recommendations

That Full Council resolves to:

  1. Appoint Robert Cawley and Melvin Kenyon and re-appoint Michael Paget-Wilkes and Phyllida Pyper as Independent Members, effective from 1.08.2024. All appointments to be a maximum of four years i.e. to 31.07.2028;
  2. Approve that the Independent Persons are paid an annual allowance of £1000 per annum on a monthly basis, plus a mileage allowance equivalent to the rate paid to elected Members;
  3. Authorise the Director of Governance & Development (Monitoring Officer) to commence a recruitment campaign prior to the expiration of current appointments and to enable reports to be presented on future appointments.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The purpose of this report was to appoint Independent Persons for standards matters and approve allowances payable.

 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Joe Harris, introduced this item and made the following points:

 

·         The Localism Act 2011 required that at least one independent member was appointed to assist the Monitoring Officer in assessing code of conduct complaints against District and Town and Parish Councillors.

 

·         There had been an uptick in complaints, particularly in relation to Town and Parish Councillors.

 

·         Independent persons could advise the Councillor accused of breaching the Code of Conduct and this was usually not required. 

 

·         The large increase in complaints required the Council to reinforce its arrangements for assessing these complaints. 

 

·         One of the Independent Members also sat on the Council’s Independent Renumeration Panel.

 

·         Two of the Independent Persons would be re-appointed but two new Independent Persons would be appointed following a retirement. This followed a recruitment campaign and interview where Robert Cawley and Melvin Kenyon met the requirements needed.

 

The Director of Governance and Development (Monitoring Officer) was then invited to speak to the item and made the following points:

 

·         The increase in complaints was highlighted in the report to the Audit and Governance Committee on 23 July 2024. 

 

·         The independent persons were important individuals to support the process for maintaining standards.

 

Councillor David Fowles seconded and noted the hard work of the Director of Governance and Development in dealing with complex cases. A question arose regarding the format of meetings with the independent persons given their distance from the area. The Director of Governance and Development noted that most of the contact was via video conference but for Standards Hearings, these would need to be held in person. It was also confirmed the mileage paid would be at the same rate as for Councillors. 

 

Councillor Mike Evemy wished to note for the record that Michael Paget-Wilkes was known to him as he played in the same tennis club. However, he did not otherwise socialise with him and this would not be a pecuniary interest. 

 

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