Agenda item
Report of the Head of Legal Partnership and Monitoring Officer - Amendments to the Constitution
- Meeting of Democracy Committee, Wednesday 8th March, 2017 6.30 pm (Item 63.)
- View the background to item 63.
Minutes:
The Head of Legal Partnership and Monitoring Officer presented a report on the Amendments to the Constitution.
The Committee noted the changes made to the Constitution as follows:-
·
That under
the Monitoring Officer’s delegation minor amendments had been
made to the Constitution to reflect the new management structure
with the majority of the amendments relating to Part 2 of the
Constitution, specifically the sections on ‘Responsibility
for Functions Relating to Officers’ and the ‘Proper
Officer’ Functions to ensure the right delegation sat with
the correct member of the management team.
·
That the
Constitution had been amended to reflect the decisions made by
Council with regards to the introduction of electronic voting and
the changes in the process for the selection of the
Mayor.
·
That
although the transference of delegated functions from one officer
to another to reflect structural changes could be carried out under
the Monitoring Officer’s delegation, any new delegated
function could only be agreed by Council. The following delegations had been requested by
the respective Heads of Service as being necessary for them to
carry out their role effectively:-
Head of Regeneration and Economic Development
– Responsibility for the implementation of the
Council’s Public Realm Design Guide and Public Arts
Policy.
Head of Housing and Community Services – To
liaise and negotiate with government bodies and their appointees,
third parties and housing providers in order to promote the
priorities identified in the Council’s Housing
Strategy.
· The review of officer delegations highlighted omissions in the functions and responsibilities of Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee as there was no reference to Bereavement Services or to the Public Realm Design Guide and Public Arts Policy. As such it was recommended that Bereavement Services, the Public Realm Design Guide and Public Arts Policy be listed as part of the Performance Management functions of the Committee as shown at Appendix I to the report.
In response to a question from a Member the Interim Deputy Head of Legal Partnership advised that the proposed wording for a six month rule was from a model Constitution but she would check the previous Constitution to ensure it reflected what was stated before.
RESOLVED:
1.
That the additional delegations to the Head of Regeneration and
Economic Development and the Head of Housing and Community Services
as set out in paragraph 2 of the report of the Interim Head of
Legal Partnership and Monitoring Officer be agreed.
2.
That the additional functions set out in paragraph 2.5 and Appendix
1 of the report of the Interim Head of Legal Partnership and
Monitoring Officer be agreed and added
to the Strategic Planning and Performance Management of Heritage
Culture and Leisure Committee.
3.
That the reinstatement of the six month rule as stated in the
previous Constitution be agreed.
4.
That the Committee Recommend to Council that it adopts all changes
to the Constitution to take effect from the date of the annual
meeting of Council.
Voting: For: 9 Against: 0 Abstentions: 0
Following the meeting
the Interim Deputy Head of Legal Partnership advised the Committee
that she had looked back at previous versions of the Constitution
to ensure she had the correct wording.
However, it appeared that there was no such provision in the
Constitution. In the light of this
misunderstanding, the Interim Deputy Head of Legal Partnership
would bring a report to the next meeting of the Committee in July
2017 in order that the issue could be discussed again.
Supporting documents:
- Amendments to the Constitution, item 63. PDF 63 KB View as HTML (63./1) 58 KB
- AppendixIconstitutionupdatereport, item 63. PDF 53 KB