Council Agrees Meeting Frequency and Location At the Council meeting set for Wednesday 26th June in Clydebank Town Hall Elected Members approved the 2013 to 2017 timetable of meetings. The report from the Executive Director of Corporate Services Angela Wilson also recommended that all ordinary meetings of the Council and the Community Participation Committee alternate between Clydebank Town Hall and Garshake. The Council decision to move to quarterly meetings last June was designed to cut waste and focus the committee and council meetings on decision making and on the scrutiny of performance. The Council saved £55,000 as a result of the changes by cutting the number of reports being produced and by reducing the frequency of meetings. The savings of £55,000 (£275,000 over five years) was distributed to the areas five secondary schools and a further £1,000 was taken from Council reserves to ensure that the Parent Council of Kilpatrick Additional Support Needs (ASN) Secondary School also received additional funding. The annual allocation to parent Councils to Parent Councils to help them in their role of supporting schools and pupils was: • St. Peter the Apostle £15,000 • Clydebank High £13,500 • Vale of Leven Academy £10,150 • Our Lady and St. Patrick’s £9,650 • Dumbarton Academy £6,700 • Kilpatrick Secondary £1,000 Council Leader Martin Rooney said: ‘I am absolutely delighted that the move to quarterly meetings had significantly cut waste in the Council and allowed us to provide additional funding support to our Secondary School Parent Councils. The previous practice was very wasteful as we would be presented with reports that either didn’t have up to date performance information or in some cases routine information was being presented for councillors to note. We changed this to cut the waste and duplication on both council and service committees and regulated the briefing system so that councillors got a regular monthly briefing on items of interest, with special briefings being sent out on a standalone basis to ensure councillors got information early without having to wait for a committee or council meeting.’ The report from the Executive Director explained the consultation and feedback from stakeholders and sets out a list of 73 ordinary meetings of the Council for the next year. The quarterly meetings will continue for Audit & Performance Review Committee; The Community Participation Committee; The Corporate Services Committee; the West Dunbartonshire Community Health & Care Partnership; the Community Planning Partnership; The Education & Lifelong Learning Committee; the Housing, Environment & Economic Regeneration Committee; the Joint Consultative Committee; and the Local Negotiating Committee for Teachers. The Appeals Committee; Planning Committee; Licensing Committee; and the Recruitment Committee will continue with their ordinary meetings and the Tendering Committee will only meet when required. In addition the Council meetings will take place every two months rather than quarterly. All meetings will take place in Dumbarton except Council meetings and Community Participation Committee meetings which will rotate between Clydebank and Dumbarton. One of the concerns raised by opposition councillors was the potential impact on attendance at meetings but the data collected by the Council’s Committee Admin Section has shown that out of a combined 838 attendances at meetings, Administration Councillors accounted for 535 attendances, while opposition councillors accounted for 303 attendances. The average attendances at meetings was 38, with Councillor Tommy Rainey achieving the most by attending 65 meetings over the past year while Councillor Jim Bollan had the least attendances with just 16 attendances recorded over the past year as he missed one Council meeting; and one HEED Committee meeting, but he also left before the start of the HEED Committee in May and has effectively excluded himself from the decision making and scrutiny of HEED over the past six months. However, he attended a Special HEED Committee on Wednesday 26th June. Councillor Rooney added: ‘Attendance at committee and council meetings is of course important if you want to play a full part in the process. But it is not expected that councillors will be able to attend every meeting as it can often clash with other responsibilities such as attending COSLA meetings or national events. Despite having the lowest attendance record in the Council by a mile, I don’t believe that Councillor Bollan can be classed as a part time councillor just because he has the least involvement in the decision making process and he has chosen to limit his membership to a single committee.’ The schedule of quarterly meetings for service committees over the next four years will allow council officers to take a more strategic approach to change and improvement and allow for more effective planning in line with the councils strategic objectives. This will also allow for better prioritisation of work that specifically contributes to the Councils strategic objectives and ensures that we continue to deliver the improvements that local resident want. Notes 1. Conveners and Deputy Conveners attend a range of meetings such as Pre-Agenda meetings as well as monthly meetings with the relevant director. 2. Council Spokespersons/Conveners attend quarterly meetings of COSLA Executive Groups and sub committees. 3. Council Spokespersons also attend events and meetings and other responsibilities related to their spokesperson role. 4. Opposition Councillor Jim Bollan has tried to make an issue out of attendances at Council and Committee meetings, claiming that a Councillor with a low attendance at meetings is a ‘Part Time’ Councillor. 5. The ACTUAL attendances over the last year are reproduced below: • Rainey (Labour) 65 • McColl (SNP) 63 • McBride (Labour) 54 • Casey (Labour) 50 • Stewart (Labour) 50 • O’Neill (Labour) 49 • Mooney (Labour) 47 • Rooney (Labour) 46 • Sorrell (Labour) 43 • Ryall (Labour) 41 • Black (Independent) 36 • Millar (Labour) 35 • Finn (SNP) 33 • McAllister (Labour) 31 • Brown (SNP) 31 • Robertson (SNP) 30 • Murray (SNP) 28 • McGlinchey (Labour) 24 • Hendrie (SNP) 23 • McNair (Independent) 22 • Agnew (Independent) 21 • Bollan (SSP) 16
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:43:19 +0000
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