Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Collins, Dexter and Smith.

The Chairman left the meeting as he believed he would be nominated as a candidate in the election of Chairman for the 2016/17 year and therefore could not preside over the election.

THE VICE-CHAIRMAN IN THE CHAIR.

On the proposal of the Leader, seconded by Councillor Grove, and there being no further nominations, Councillor Rev. Piper was declared elected as Chairman of Council for the 2016/17 municipal year.

Councillor Rev. Piper made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office of Chairman of Council and formalised Mrs Piper as escort.

COUNCILLOR REV. PIPER IN THE CHAIR

On the proposal of Councillor L Fairbrass, seconded by Councillor Grove, and there being no further nominations, Councillor Howes was declared elected as Vice-Chairman of Council for the 2016/17 municipal year.

Councillor Howes made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office of Vice-Chairman of Council and formalised Mrs Howes as escort.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 31 March 2016, copy attached.

It was proposal by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and agreed, that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 31 March 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in accordance with Council Procedure rule 2.2 (v)

To receive any announcements from the Chairman, or Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.1 (vi).

It was noted that Mr Hauxwell, the Chairman’s attendant was to retire.  Members offered thanks for his support, and wished him good luck for the future.  Members stood to applaud as a sign of their appreciation of the service Mr Hauxwell had provided.

Members also offered their congratulations to Councillor Ashbee, who had recently got married.

Council noted the Cabinet portfolios, operational accountabilities and executive delegated functions for the 2016/17 municipal year as set out in Annex 1 of the report. The Cabinet portfolio holders and Shadow Cabinet portfolio holders for the 2016/17 municipal year were noted as follows:

Councillor D Saunders as chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel presented his report.  He expressed his thanks to the officers and Members of the panel.  Cllr Saunders emphasised the importance of having an effective scrutiny function to ensure robust decision making.

Members noted the report.

Councillor Buckley as chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee for 2015/16 presented his report on the work of the committee and wished to thank officers and Members of the committee for their effort.  Councillor Buckley highlighted that looking forward to 2016-17, with the continued financial pressures facing the Council, the importance of an effective Governance and Audit Committee would remain critical.

Members noted the report.

Dr Sexton, the Independent Chairman of Standards Committee presented his annual report which summarised and commented on the work of the committee for the period May 2015 to April 2016.

Members noted the report.

It was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and Members agreed:

“That Council approves the appointment of Dr Sexton and Mrs Bacon as Independent Members of the Standards Committee until the 2017 Annual Council Meeting.”

Report to follow

NUMBER AND SIZE OF COMMITTEES

It was noted that there was a typographical error in annexes 1-4 of the report as they showed that there were 19 Conservative Councillors instead of 18.  The subsequent calculations within the annexes had been based upon 18 Councillors and were therefore correct.

Proposal 1

It was proposed by the Leader and seconded by Councillor L Fairbrass:

“That Council agree option 3 as detailed in the report.”

Proposal 2

It was proposed by Councillor Ashbee and seconded by Councillor Bayford:

“That Council agree option 4 as detailed in the report.”

Upon being put to the vote, Members agreed proposal 1, to adopt option 3 outlined at paragraph 3.6 of the report to achieve proportionality, namely:

“That two additional seats are added to the Planning Committee and that one of these seats is given to the UKIP Group and the other is given to the Independent Group. That one additional seat is added to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and that seat given to the Independent Group. That one additional seat is added to the Governance and Audit Committee and that seat given to the Independent Group. That one additional seat is added to the Boundary and Electoral Arrangements Working Party and that seat given to the UKIP Group.”

STANDARDS COMMITTEE

It was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and Members agreed to waive proportionality for the standards committee and to apply the approximate proportionality as set out at table 7 of the report, namely:

NOTE*; the remaining two members would be either Thanet District Council Members from those groups that are entitled to seats on the Standards Committee, Town/Parish Council members or further independent members, on a case by case basis. In the case of complaint against a Town or Parish Councillor at least one of the panel would be a Town or Parish Council representative.

** Currently there are only two Independent Members in post.

JOINT TRANSPORTATION BOARD

It was proposed by the Leader, seconded by Councillor L Fairbrass, and Members agreed option 1 as outlined in table 8 of the report, namely:

EAST KENT JOINT ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE

It was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and Members agreed the joint committee as set out at table 9 of the report, namely:

PROPORTIONALITY

It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

It was proposed by the Leader, seconded by Councillor L Fairbrass and Members agreed:

“the list of Executive outside bodies as shown in Annex 1 of the report, and the list of Non-Executive outside bodies as shown in Annex 2 of the report with the following nominations:

”

The calendar of meetings was agreed at the full Council meeting on 25 February 2016, a report will follow if the item is required as a result of agenda item 12.

The Chairman advised that this item had been withdrawn as there had been no change to the calendar of meetings as a result of the items discussed at that evenings meeting.  Therefore the current calendar of meetings remained unchanged from the calendar agreed at full Council on 25 February 2016.