Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Angela Goodwin and Patrick Sheard and Honorary Aldermen Catherine Cobley, Clare Griffin, Jayne Marks, and Lynda Strudwick.

To receive and note any disclosable pecuniary interests from councillors. In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the annual meeting of the Council held on 8 May 2019 (to follow).

The Council confirmed, as a correct record, the minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 8 May 2019. The Mayor signed the minutes.

To receive any communications or announcements from the Mayor.

The Mayor thanked councillors who attended the annual Civic Service on Sunday 12 May.

The Mayor also informed councillors that invitations for this year’s Guildford Cricket Festival had now been issued, and asked those interested in attending to respond promptly to the Civic Secretary as there was always a high demand for tickets.

To receive the report of the Democratic Services Manager on nominations received in respect of the election of the Leader of the Council.  Under the Council’s current executive arrangements and in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 21(a), the Council shall elect the Leader for a four year term of office ending on the day of the next post-election annual meeting of the Council.

A councillor proposing to nominate another councillor as Leader must notify the Democratic Services Manager of their nomination, and the name of the councillor seconding the nomination, before the meeting at which the election is to be held.

Details of nominees and their proposers and seconders will be included on the Order Paper for the meeting. 

If more than one councillor is nominated, the election of the Leader shall be by show of hands.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 21(d), the newly elected Leader of the Council may announce the appointment of the Deputy Leader and Lead Councillors on the Executive and the titles of the portfolios assigned to them.

The Democratic Services Manager reported that he had received the following nominations in respect of the election of the Leader of the Council for a four-year period ending on the day of the next post-election annual meeting of the Council:

·        Councillor Joss Bigmore (proposed by Councillor John Rigg and seconded by Councillor Christopher Barrass)

·        Councillor Caroline Reeves(proposed by Councillor Fiona White and seconded by Councillor Jan Harwood)

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 19 (d), Councillor Paul Spooner requested a recorded vote on the election of Leader, which was supported at the meeting by four other councillors. 

At the suggestion of the Mayor, the Council agreed that the following process for dealing with a contested election for the leadership of the Council:

1.             Each candidate shall be separately proposed and seconded, with each proposer and seconder speaking for up to five minutes.

2.             The candidates to address the Council in support of their respective nominations for up to five minutes each. 

3.             Other councillors to comment on the nominations, for up to three minutes each, after which each candidate’s nomination to then be put to the vote.

Following this process, the Council

RESOLVED: That Councillor Caroline Reeves be elected Leader of the Council for a four-year period ending on the day of the next post-election annual meeting of the Council.

The result of the recorded vote on the election of Leader of the Council by the councillors present was as follows:

For Councillor Joss Bigmore (19 votes):

Councillor Paul Abbey

Councillor Tim Anderson

Councillor Christopher Barrass

Councillor Joss Bigmore

Councillor Chris Blow

Councillor Dennis Booth

Councillor Ruth Brothwell

Councillor Colin Cross

Councillor Diana Jones

Councillor Ann McShee

Councillor Bob McShee

Councillor Ramsey Nagaty

Councillor Susan Parker

Councillor John Redpath

Councillor Maddy Redpath

Councillor John Rigg

Councillor Tony Rooth

Councillor Deborah Seabrook

Councillor Catherine Young

For Councillor Caroline Reeves (23 votes):

Councillor Jon Askew

Councillor David Bilbé

Councillor Graham Eyre

Councillor David Goodwin

Councillor Angela Gunning

Councillor Gillian Harwood

Councillor Jan Harwood

Councillor Liz Hogger

Councillor Tom Hunt

Councillor Gordon Jackson

Councillor Steven Lee

Councillor Ted Mayne

Councillor Julia McShane

Councillor Masuk Miah

Councillor George Potter

Councillor Jo Randall

Councillor Caroline Reeves

Councillor Will Salmon

Councillor Pauline Searle

Councillor Paul Spooner

Councillor James Steel

Councillor James Walsh

Councillor Fiona White

Abstentions (4):

The Mayor, Councillor Richard Billington

Councillor Andrew Gomm

Councillor Nigel Manning

Councillor Marsha Moseley

The newly elected Leader of the Council announced the appointment of Councillor Fiona White as Deputy Leader of the Council.

To receive questions or statements from the public.

Mr Julian Lyon addressed the Council in respect of the election of the Leader of the Council.  The Leader of the Council, Councillor Caroline Reeves responded to the representations.

To hear questions (if any) from councillors of which due notice has been given.

Under Council Procedure Rule 13 (b), a councillor may ask the Mayor, Leader, [a lead councillor or the chairman of any committee*] any question on a matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Borough; provided that written notice, specifying the question, is delivered to the Democratic Services Manager by no later than 12 noon on the third working day before the date of the meeting of the Council at which the question is intended to be asked. 

For the avoidance of doubt, this means that any such questions for this meeting would need to be delivered by no later than 12 noon on Friday 10 May 2019.

* As the identity of lead councillors may not, at this stage, be known and the election of committee chairmen is dealt with in agenda item 8, any questions would have to be dealt with either by the Mayor or the newly elected Leader of the Council.

There were no questions from councillors.

The Council considered a report on the appointment of councillors to committees for the municipal year 2019-20.  Councillors noted the political composition of the Council following the Borough Council elections on 2 May 2019, and the details of each of the political groups on the Council, details of which were set out in the Order Paper circulated at the meeting.

Details of the proposed committees and their respective size and terms of reference were set out in the report submitted to the Council, including details of the numerical allocation of seats on the committees to the political groups.  The Order Paper also included details of each group’s nominations to fill those seats (and substitutes where appropriate), together with the nominations for election of committee and sub-committee chairmen and vice-chairmen.

Upon the motion of the Leader of the Council, Councillor Caroline Reeves, and seconded by the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Fiona White, the Council:

RESOLVED:

(1)     That, for the municipal year 2019-20, the Council agrees to appoint the committees referred to in the table set out in paragraph 4.1 of the report submitted to the Council, and agrees their respective size referred to therein and the proposed terms of reference, as indicated in Appendix 1 to the report.

(2)         That the Licensing Committee shall be politically balanced.

(3)         That the following Sub-Committees shall not be politically balanced:

·        Licensing Sub-Committee

·        Licensing Regulatory Sub-Committee

(4)         That the following numerical allocation of seats to each political group on the Council, be approved:

(5)         That the nominations for membership and substitute membership (where applicable) of the committees, Executive Advisory Boards, and the Guildford Joint Committee, together with the nominations for election of committee chairmen and vice-chairmen for the 2019-20 municipal year, be approved as set out and indicated below:

Corporate Governance and Standards Committee

Employment Committee

Community  ...  view the full minutes text for item CO16

Under Section 39 of the Localism Act 2011, the Council was required to consider and approve a pay policy statement for the financial year ahead and this was agreed by Council in February 2019 in respect of the statement covering 2019-20.  The annual pay award date had now changed from 1 April to 1 July and the pay policy statement had therefore been approved prior to the pay award for all staff in Bands 1-10 being agreed by the Managing Director in consultation with the Leader of the Council. 

Separate approval was now required for this pay award to be applied to the Managing Director and Director posts.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Caroline Reeves proposed, and the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Fiona White seconded the following motion:

“That a pay award of 2% be approved for the Managing Director and the Director posts with effect from 1 July 2019 in accordance with the Council’s adopted Pay Policy Statement”.

Councillor Paul Spooner proposed, and Councillor George Potter seconded the following amendment:

“That the proposed pay award for the Corporate Management Team for 2019-20 be deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the Council on 23 July 2019”.

Following the debate on the amendment, it was put to a vote and was carried.

Having considered the substantive motion, the Council

RESOLVED: That the proposed pay award for the Corporate Management Team for 2019-20 be deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the Council on 23 July 2019.

To order the Common Seal to be affixed to any document to give effect to any decision taken by the Council at this meeting.

The Council

RESOLVED: That the Common Seal of the Council be affixed to any documents to give effect to any decisions taken by the Council at this meeting.