Agenda item

To note a resolution from the Policy and Resources Committee regarding the appointment of Chairmen of Sub-Committees.

The Committee considered a resolution from the Policy and Resources Committee regarding the process for the appointment of Chairmen of Sub-Committees.

The Chairman commented that the purpose of the resolution was to ensure that Chairmen of Sub-Committees were always appointed by the Committee as a whole, rather than solely by the Chairman.

Members discussed the resolution and agreed  that, as Members had interpreted the resolution in a range of different ways, the resolution was unclear without having the context of the report which had being considered by the Policy and Resources Committee. Members also commented that, in meetings of other Committees, the resolution had been interpreted in different ways by Members of the Town Clerk’s Department.

The Town Clerk explained that the purpose of the report which had been submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee was to ensure that Sub-Committee Chairmen were not appointed solely by the Chairman of the Grand Committee, rather than to require that all Sub-Committees Chairmen were appointed in the manner described in the resolution. The Chairman suggested that it may be beneficial for the report which had been submitted to the Policy and Resources Committee to be circulated to all Members of the Finance Committee.

Members agreed that it was important that Sub-Committee Chairmen were appointed in a manner which was open and transparent.

The Chairman commented that, for the Finance Committee, the practice prior to his election as Chairman had been that the Chairman of the Grand Committee chaired all of the Sub-Committees. He commented that this was typically the practice for most Grand Committees. He explained that he had preferred for other Members of the Committee to be Chairmen of some of the Sub-Committees and, as such, had identified the Members whom he thought would make effective Chairmen of each Sub-Committee. The Grand Committee had then approved the appointment of those Members as Chairmen of the Sub-Committees.

The Committee agreed that it required further clarification of the resolution before it could consider whether to endorse it. The Committee also suggested that, if other Committees had experienced similar confusion in considering the resolution, the Policy and Resources Committee should be requested to review the resolution and recirculate it to all Grand Committees in a clearer format.

RESOLVED – That the Committee requests that further clarification be provided regarding the resolution from the Policy and Resources Committee.