The outgoing Chairman will invite nominations for office of Chairman of the Council for the 2023-24 Municipal Year.

Upon election, the incoming Chairman of the Council will sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office and be invested with the Chairman’s Chain of Office and take the Chairman’s Chair.

The Chairman of the Council may make a short speech of acceptance of office.

Jeff Dale, outgoing Chairman of the Council, welcomed Members to the first meeting of the Council following elections held on 4 May 2023.

Nominations were invited for the position of Chairman of the Council for the 2023-24 municipal year.

A motion to appoint Councillor A Brown was moved by Councillor R Powell and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 26 votes in favour and 1 abstention the motion was carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor A Brown be APPOINTED as Chairman of the Council for the 2023-24 municipal year.

Councillor A Brown was invested with the Chairman’s Chain of Office and took the Chair. The Chairman thanked Members for their support and set out his intention to serve the Council and county to the best of his ability and ensure Council meetings were efficient and chaired fairly but firmly. Members were reminded that meetings of the Council and Committees were recorded and available for the public to view.

The Chairman proceeded to invest Jeff Dale with a Past Chairman’s Badge and thanked him for his two years of service to the county as Chairman, over 20 years as a Councillor, and numerous voluntary activities as a private citizen.

The Chairman of the Council will invite nominations for the office of Vice-Chairman of the Council for 2023/24 Municipal Year.

The Vice-Chairman will sign a Declaration of Acceptance of Office and the outgoing Vice-Chairman will then invest the incoming Vice-Chairman with the Chain of Office. The Chairman of the Council will then invite the Vice-Chairman to take the Vice-Chairman’s Chair.

In the event of the outgoing Vice-Chairman being re-elected, the Vice-Chairman will retain the Chain of Office and remain seated.

The Vice-Chairman of the Council may make a short speech of acceptance of office.

Nominations were invited for the position of Vice-Chairman of the Council for the 2023-24 municipal year.

A motion to appoint Councillor S Harvey was moved by Councillor R Powell and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 26 votes in favour and 1 abstention, the motion was carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor S Harvey be APPOINTED as Vice-Chairman of the Council for the 2023-24 municipal year.

Councillor Harvey was invested with the Vice-Chairman’s Chain of Office by the outgoing Vice-Chairman of the Council. The Vice-Chairman thanked Members for their support and thanked Councillor N Begy for his years of service as the Vice-Chairman of the Council.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Chairman informed Members he had no announcements of his own but confirmed the previous Chairman had attended a church service at All Saints Church, hosted by the Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland, to mark the coronation of HM King Charles III.

There were no announcements from the Head of Paid Service.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman of the Council will invite nominations for the office of Leader of the Council for a term of four years until the next Annual Meeting after ordinary whole Council elections.

Nominations were invited for the position of Leader of the Council for a 4-year term up to the Annual Meeting of the Council following the next set of ordinary whole Council elections.

A motion to appoint Councillor G Waller was moved by Councillor A MacCartney and seconded. A motion to appoint Councillor R Powell was moved by Councillor N Begy and seconded. Both Councillors were provided with the opportunity to set out their suitability for the role and intentions should they be appointed.

Upon being put to the vote, with 12 votes in favour of Councillor Powell and 15 votes in favour of Councillor Waller, Councillor Waller was duly appointed.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor G Waller be APPOINTED as Leader of the Council for a term of four years until the next Annual Meeting after ordinary whole Council elections.

The Leader thanked Members for their support and set out her priorities for her term of office. Members were also welcomed to the Council and thanks were expressed to all candidates for their participation in the recent local elections and to those Councillors who had stood down or lost their seats at the elections.

The Council is requested to note the appointment of members of the Executive (Including the Deputy Leader) and their portfolios as announced by the Leader.

Councillor G Waller set out her appointments to the Cabinet as follows:

• Councillor G Waller – Leader of the Council
• Councillor A Johnson – Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources
• Councillor Paul Browne – Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property
• Councillor Diane Ellison - Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and Health
• Councillor Raymond Payne – Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, Homelessness and Housing Policy
• Councillor Christine Wise – Portfolio Holder for Highways, Transport and the Environment.

A full list of Portfolio Holders and their responsibilities are appended to the minutes.

RESOLVED

a)    That the appointments to Cabinet, including the Deputy Leader, be NOTED

To receive Report No. 72/2023 from the Strategic Director for Law and Governance.  

Report No. 72/2023 was introduced by Councillor G Waller, Leader of the Council, the report requested Council approval for the Scheme of Delegation for 2023/24 as required by the Council’s Constitution.

A motion to approve the recommendations of Report No. 72/2023 was moved by Councillor G Waller and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Council:

a)    APPROVED the Scheme of Delegation, Part 3 of the Constitution, as amended and set out in Appendix A.

b)    NOTED that a full review of the Scheme of Delegation would take place in the 2023-24 municipal year.

To receive Report No. 69/2023 from the Strategic Director for Law and Governance.

Report No. 69/2023 was introduced by Councillor G Waller, Leader of the Council, the report set out a number of decisions for Council to determine related to political balance and appointments to Committees. It was noted appendices had been circulated via an agenda supplement containing the political balance calculations, allocations of seats on Committees to political groups, and nominations of political groups to those seats.

It was noted that following publication of Appendix B the Liberal Democrat and Green group had decided to gift two seats to non-aligned Councillor T Carr from their allocations on the Conduct Committee and the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee respectively.

A motion to approve the first four and sixth recommendations was moved by Councillor G Waller and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously approved.

RESOLVED

That Council:

a)    APPROVED the political balance calculation the Council should adopt for 2023/24 contained within Appendix A.

b)    APPROVED the subsequent allocation of seats on Committees to Political Groups, as determined by the vote on political balance calculation, as set out in Appendix B.

c)    NOTED the political group nominations for membership of the Council’s Committees as set out in Appendix B.

d)    AUTHORISED the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee to co-opt five Members on education matters only, in accordance with the Constitution and the Local Government Act 2000.

e)    NOTED that the Portfolio Holders with responsibility for health and children’s services were automatically the appointed Members to the Health and Wellbeing Board, with the former assuming the role of Chair.

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The Chairman then explained that he would invite nominations for the position of Chair for each Committee in turn. Nominations were first invited for the position of Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

A motion to appoint Councillor K Payne was moved by Councillor R Powell and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor K Payne be APPOINTED as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year.

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Nominations were then invited for the position of Chair of the Conduct Committee. 

A motion to appoint Councillor O Hemsley was moved by Councillor R Powell and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

a)    That Councillor O Hemsley be APPOINTED as Chair of the Conduct Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year.

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Nominations were then invited for the position of Chair of the Constitution Commission. 

A motion to appoint Councillor O Hemsley was moved by Councillor D Wilby and seconded and a motion to appoint Councillor G Waller was moved by Councillor P Browne and seconded. Both Councillors were provided with the opportunity to set out their suitability for the role and intentions should they be appointed.

Upon being put to the vote, with 12 votes in favour of Councillor Hemsley  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To receive Report No. 70/2023 from the Strategic Director for Law and Governance.

Report No. 70/2023 was introduced by Councillor G Waller, Leader of the Council, the report set out for approval proposed appointments of Members to represent the Council on various organisations. It was set out these appointments provided a valuable opportunity to represent and be an ambassador for the Council and the county’s interests.

It was noted that an updated appendix with nominations to organisations had been circulated via an agenda supplement and that the Leader had decided to appoint Councillors D Wilby and T Carr to the positions of Armed Forces Champion and Looked After Childrens Champion respectively.

A motion to approve the proposed appointments and note the appointment of Member Champions was moved by Councillor G Waller and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Council:

a)    APPROVED the appointments of Members to Outside Organisations as listed in Appendix A, including DELEGATION of authority to the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee to appoint an additional Member and substitute to Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee from among its membership.

b)    NOTED the appointment of Member Champions as announced by the Leader.

To receive Report No. 71/2023 from the Strategic Director for Law and Governance.

Report No. 71/2023 was introduced by Councillor G Waller, Leader of the Council, the report sought Council approval for the dates and times ofordinary meetings of Council (and its Committees) for the coming Municipal Year.

A motion to approve the recommendations of Report No. 71/2023 was moved by Councillor G Waller and seconded. Upon being put to the vote, with 27 votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Council:

a)    APPROVED the Programme of Meetings for 2023/24 at Appendix A.

b)    NOTED that meeting dates for May and June 2024 were subject to revision by Annual Council in May 2024.

To receive items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

There was no urgent business for consideration.

10 July 2023 (Subject to approval of the Programme of Meetings)

The next meeting of Council was confirmed to be 10 July 2023.