When the business being considered isn’t…

All that is EXTRAORDINARY.

There’s nothing like a Constitutional Change to get Tory juices flowing 

Changing the council’s hallowed Constitution provided a perfect opportunity for the first political ding-dong of the New Year.

The Rainbow Coalition want to change the council rule book to allow more than one subject to be considered at an Extraordinary Meeting.

It sounds pretty sensible to the average council taxpayer, who is happy enough to see as much business considered and delivered as efficiently possible on a night when most of its 50 councillors are present. However, current rules don’t align with Guildford or other borough and district councils, which can consider more than one agenda item. At An Extraordinary `Meeting,

Just the opportunity for Conservative Bramley & Wonersh Cllr Grizzly Goodridge to wake up from one of his frequent sleep to oppose the change. 

He told council colleagues if they voted for the change and then went on to consider other items included on the agenda, they were acting ultra vires. Decisions should be made on one matter and one matter only, that was, yes, you guessed, EXTRAORDIMARY: New Interim Chief Executive appointed for Waverley & Guildford.

Any other matters should be delayed later in accordance with the Constitution.

He warned his colleagues: ” You will be breaching council rules, which would be totally wrong and an abuse of Waverley’s Constitution.

Councillors went behind their hands to avoid being captured, smirking at the prospect of being accused of a hanging offence. Others voiced the ludicrous prospect of all being called back for another Extraordinary Meeting to discuss the not-so-extraordinary business they were being asked to consider at the Extraordinary Meeting.

Looking and sounding exceedingly bored, Leader ~Paul Follows said he believed that changing the rules was an extremely sensible and pragmatic approach supported by the Council’s Monitoring officer.

Susan Sale, Joint Executive Head of Legal & Democratic Services, proceeded to pee on Grizzlies fireworks by explaining that it was perfectly legal and the council would not be acting ultra vires to both change the Constitution on the night and then deal with the other matters councillors had before them.

Call Liz Townsend Townsend said if the motion were defeated, there would likely be another Extraordinary Meeting to discuss the not-so-extraordinary business on the agenda tonight in 5 days. As the next full council meeting was the critical budget meeting, the agenda items affecting both Guildford & Waverley before councillors may be delayed for months.

The Recommendation was then Unanimously approved.

There is a statutory obligation upon every Local Authority to have a constitution and to both maintain and publish it. It is considered good practice to keep the Constitution under constant review and for councillors to consider a more formal review on an annual basis.

As part of the current work programme to update the constitutions of both Guildford Borough Council (GBC) and Waverley Borough Council (WBC), the Joint Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services has deemed the Officer Employment Procedure Rules as a high priority, requiring urgent attention, particularly at WBC where none currently exist.