Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clare Aparicio Paul, Marcus Barrett, Gye Dibben, Anna Groskop, Peter Gubbins, Henry Hobhouse, Sue Osborne, Tiffany Osborne, Shane Pledger, Wes Read, Dean Ruddle, Garry Shortland, Angie Singleton, Linda Vijeh, William Wallace and Colin Winder, and, Ian Clarke, Assistant Director.

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday, 21^st July 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st July 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct. A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest.  As a result of the change made to the Code of Conduct by this Council at its meeting on 15th May 2014, where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council.  If you have a prejudicial interest you must comply with paragraphs 2.9(b) and 2.9(c) of the Code.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Mr Bud Budzynski said that following Team GB’s successes at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro asked if it was possible to consider painting a post box in Yeovil gold in honour of Heather Stanning who had recently won an Olympic gold medal.

Councillor Sylvia Seal said the Council would make enquiries to see if this was possible. 

The Leader of Council advised that there had been a rise in telephone calls to the SSDC contact centre with a peak on 1^st August.  There were a variety of reasons as to why the system had been under pressure at a time of the year which has traditionally seen a reduction.  One of the main causes was the number of missed refuse collections in the district and this was being addressed by the Waste Partnership.  In an effort to better inform the public when demand on the contact centre was particularly high, an automated message would inform customers of the likely waiting time before their call was answered. 

The Leader of Council further advised that there were two briefing sessions being held the following Monday to gather Members views on the Transformation project as it related to Area working and how it would operate in the future.  He encouraged Members to attend and share their views at the briefing as the outcomes would form part of the Transformation project report to Council on 20^th October 2016.

The list of Chairman’s Engagements was noted.

Mr Juber Rahman of the South West Counter Fraud Partnership provided Members with a short training presentation to raise their awareness of the threat of fraud, theft and bribery to the Council. 

At the conclusion of the presentation, the Chairman thanked Mr Rahman for attending and giving an informative and entertaining presentation.

The Leader of Council thanked the two Strategic Directors (Rina Singh and Vega Sturgess) for their work as Acting Chief Executive for the previous 14 months.  He outlined the process which the Appointments Committee had taken to select the candidates and he proposed that Council accepted the recommendation of the Appointments Committee and appoint Mr Alex Parmley as the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Paid Service for South Somerset District Council.

Councillor Michael Lewis, Leader of the Conservative Group, proposed an additional recommendation that the Chief Executive Officer’s employment be subject to employment terms in forthcoming legislation contained within the Small Businesses; Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.  This was seconded by Councillor Nick Weeks.

During discussion, varying views were expressed on the acceptance of the proposed additional resolution and, at the conclusion of the debate, a vote was taken.  The voting was 14 in favour, 28 against with no abstentions, therefore the proposal was defeated.  

The original recommendations were then put to the vote and Members confirmed the recommendation of the Appointments Committee and agreed to appoint Mr Alex Parmley as the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Paid Service for South Somerset District Council.

(Voting: 38 in favour, 4 against, 1 abstention)

The Democratic Services Manager confirmed that the 28% response to the survey was a positive response in favour and that a second short period of public consultation would now commence before the final report was presented to Council. 

It was noted that should the Parish Councillors decide to resign and create an election in order to allow the increase in Councillors to take effect, then the cost of that election would be borne by Yeovilton Parish Council and not SSDC.

There was no debate and Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report. 

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The report of Executive Decisions was noted.

Councillor Derek Yeomans, Chairman of the Audit Committee, introduced the report and noted that the Senior Auditor had spoken very favourably on the Council’s finances at the last Audit Committee meeting.  There were no questions and the report of the Audit Committee was noted.

Councillor Sue Steele, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee presented the report and encouraged Councillors to join one of the many Task and Finish groups which were currently running.   

There were no questions and the report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

There were no Motions submitted.

There were no Motions submitted by Members.

There were no questions submitted under Procedure Rule 10.

Councillor Mike Beech submitted the following question under Procedure Rule 10:

Is the contingency for the Westlands project still sufficient?

Councillor Sylvia Seal responded to confirm that a sum of £60,000 had been budgeted for contingencies and to date, none of this had been used.

Members are asked to note that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council will take place on Thursday, 1^st September 2016 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 8.00 p.m.

Please Note:

This meeting replaces the scheduled Council date of 15^th September 2016.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday, 1st September 2016 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 8.00 p.m.

This meeting would be preceded by a Members Briefing at 6.00pm on the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Plan – the Government’s four year grant offer.