Procedures Regarding Resignation of Councillor and Applications to Fill Council Vacancies by Co-option.

Councillor Resignation:

As soon as a resignation is received, the Clerk must notify East Lindsey District Council, who will send a notice of vacancy to be displayed on, Parish Notice Boards, and online on our website.

Expression of Interest to become a councillor:

When an application is received from a member of the public wishing to be considered for council, the clerk shall take full details of name, address, post code, telephone number and email address if available.

The clerk shall send each applicant:

• a Letter (see below on page 2)
• a Copy of Who Can Become a Councillor
• NALC code of conduct
• Copies of current LALC Training Schedule
• An electronic copy of The Good Councillors Guide
• DPI Form
• Information about the Hillingdon ruling
• Link to the Parish Council website for interested parties to read the Parish Council’s policies and procedures
• GDPR Security Compliance Checklist

Upon receipt of a written application:

The council shall advise the applicant of date of the council meeting when the applicant can meet with the council for an informal interview.  If the applicant still wishes to pursue the co-option, he/she will be advised of the meeting date when his/her co-option will be resolved upon.

LETTER TO SEND TO POTENTIAL COUNCILLORS FOR CO-OPTION

Approved October 26th 2018

Dear
 
Re: Minting and Gautby Parish Council Vacancies
 
I am writing on behalf of the Parish Council to thank you for your expression of interest and to give you some more information on the role of a Parish Councillor in Minting and Gautby.

This Council wishes to learn from experience and with this in mind, the Chair and Vicechair will invite you to an informal chat so that you are not joining the Council without any context or background to local situations, which could then have an adverse effect on your ability to make informed decisions.
 
Minting and Gautby Parish Council is keen to attract applicants who are willing and able to devote the time and energy required to ensure the Council follows the law and keeps abreast of changes in legislation, develops its Emergency Plan, and keeps communicating with our electorate. We therefore feel that it is only fair to advise all potential applicants of the duties involved. This letter sets out the level of commitment you would be expected to take on if successful with your application.

Councillors are required to attend a minimum of 4 full Council meetings, one every 3-4 months (usually in January, May, September and November), plus extra-ordinary meetings - in between to consider planning issues and other matters (sometimes at short notice where urgency is required), as well as some working party meetings. Some of these meetings are held during the day.  Sometimes there can be a large amount of paperwork to be read and digested that will be sent to you before each meeting.
 
Today, there are increasing demands on local Councils and in Minting and Gautby we have a number of different tasks, which we wish Councillors to contribute to depending on their particular interests and skills, e.g.

• Risk Assessments of all Council activities
• New Policies
• Newsletter Distribution
• Habitat Enhancement
• Playing Field Maintenance and Litter Pick
• Equipment Maintenance
• Emergency Planning
• Training for Councillors
   

In addition, Councillors may be expected to represent the Parish Council on various external and some internal committees and report back to Council on progress. 

Minting and Gautby Parish Council wants to foster a climate of co-operation and mutual respect, enabling Councillors to work together for the good of the residents of Minting and Gautby now and in the future. For any team to function properly, it is important that the workload is shared fairly, and that everyone is involved and makes a positive contribution, as their own situation allows.

Increasingly, the training of Councillors is becoming an important part of the commitment, and successful applicants would be expected to take advantage of relevant training available.
 
All Councillors are required to complete a Form under the LOCALISM ACT 2011 (the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, disclosing their financial interests. A copy of the DPI form will be posted on East Lindsey District Council’s website for members of the public to view if they so desire. Councillors must give an undertaking that they will observe the NALC Code of Conduct; failure to do so may result in a complaint being raised to the Monitoring Officer at East Lindsey District Council.  In addition, they are required to sign an “Acceptance of Office” form.

During their term of office, Councillors will occasionally be privy to confidential information, which must not be disclosed outside of the Council. Such matters may include, for example, personnel issues or commercial contractual arrangements. Confidential documents must be treated with care and kept safely, or returned to the Clerk for destruction, when no longer required.  As you may already know the new General Data Protection Regulations came in to force in May 2018, and the Council as a corporate body is a data processor. Because of this, all Councillors are required to fill in the attached Security Compliance checklist and are required to use a Minting and Gautby Parish Council email address for council work which will be listed on the Council’s public website.

The Council is also an employer and has personnel responsibilities towards the Clerk and contractual responsibilities towards others that it employs to carry out work on its behalf.
 
All this may at first sound a little daunting but help and advice are always available.  The Clerk is there to provide advice and help with procedural and legal matters and to carry out the wishes of the Council, as well as help Councillors with parishioners’ issues. More experienced members of the Council are available to help newer members find their feet and additionally, for those with access to the internet, help is at hand on-line.

If you feel that becoming a Minting and Gautby Parish Councillor is for you, and you haven’t already done so, please apply in writing to the Parish Clerk setting out why you wish to become a Councillor and detailing your relevant experience, including any community activities with which you currently[pc1] , or have recently been involved. If you have already submitted a written application I shall be in contact shortly to advise you on what happens next. In the mean time, you can access the wealth of Parish Council Policies, procedures and minutes at our website  http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/MintingandGautby/

Yours sincerely,

Clerk to Minting and Gautby Parish Council

Enc: 

1. Eligibility to Become a Parish Councillor
2. All About Local Councils – NALC Publication
3. NALC code of conduct
4. Copies of current LALC Training Schedule
5. A copy of The Good Councillors Guide – NALC Publication
6. A Copy of the Being a Good Employer – NALC Publication
7. DPI Form
8. Information about the Hillingdon ruling
9. GDPR Security Compliance Checklist

After Co-Option

Procedures regarding newly elected/co-opted councillors

There is a statutory document, which must be signed before councillors can take their seats:

• Declaration of Acceptance of Office and give an undertaking that they will observe the Members’ Code of Conduct (see below)

In addition, within 21 days

• All Councillors are required to complete a Form under the LOCALISM ACT 2011 (the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, disclosing their financial interests. and, give an undertaking that they will observe the NALC Code of Conduct, which must be passed on by the Clerk to ELDC within 28 days
• GDPR Security Compliance Checklist – must be signed and returned to the Clerk for retention

In addition, new councillors will be given:

• direction to access the Council’s Standing Orders & Financial Regulations and other procedures via the Council’s website

• List of Training Events
• Their own council email address and password and told how to use and set up the new email account.

Induction:

Within a month of being elected, and once new councillors have had a chance to digest all of the information they have been given and attended a meeting, each new councillor should have an induction meeting with the clerk and Chair, who will be able to answer questions and explain in more detail the workings of Minting and Gautby Parish Council.

NALC template code of conduct for parish councils

Introduction

Pursuant to section 27 of the Localism Act 2011, X [Parish/Town/Village/ Community/Neighbourhood] Council (‘the Council’) has adopted this Code of Conduct to promote and maintain high standards of behaviour by its members and co-opted members whenever they conduct the business of the Council, including the business of the office to which they were elected or appointed, or when they claim to act or give the impression of acting as a representative of the Council.

This Code of Conduct is based on the principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Code, a ‘co-opted member’ is a person who is not a member of the Council but who is either a member of any committee or sub-committee of the Council, or a member of, and represents the Council on any joint committee or joint sub-committee of the Council, and who is entitled to vote on any question that falls to be decided at any meeting of that committee or sub-committee.

For the purposes of this Code, a ‘meeting’ is a meeting of the Council, any of its committees, sub-committees, joint committees or joint sub-committees.

For the purposes of this Code, and unless otherwise expressed, a reference to a member of the Council includes a co-opted member of the Council.

Member obligations

When a member of the Council acts, claims to act or gives the impression of acting as a representative of the Council, he/she has the following obligations.

1. He/she shall behave in such a way that a reasonable person would regard as respectful.

2. He/she shall not act in a way which a reasonable person would regard as bullying or intimidatory.

3. He/she shall not seek to improperly confer an advantage or disadvantage on any person.

4. He/she shall use the resources of the Council in accordance with its requirements.

5. He/she shall not disclose information which is confidential or where disclosure is prohibited by law.

Registration of interests

6.Within 28 days of this Code being adopted by the Council, or the member’s election or the co-opted member’s appointment (where that is later), he/she shall register with the Monitoring Officer the interests which fall within the categories set out in Appendices A and B.

7.Upon the re-election of a member or the re-appointment of a co-opted member, he/she shall within 28 days re-register with the Monitoring Officer any interests in Appendices A and B.

8. A member shall register with the Monitoring Officer any change to interests or new interests in Appendices A and B within 28 days of becoming aware of it.

9. A member need only declare the existence but not the details of any interest which the Monitoring Officer agrees is a ‘sensitive interest’.  A sensitive interest is one which, if disclosed on a public register, could lead the member or a person connected with the member to be subject to violence or intimidation.

Declaration of interests at meetings

10.   Where a matter arises at a meeting which relates to an interest in Appendix A the member shall not participate in a discussion or vote on the matter. He/she only has to declare what his/her interest is if it is not already entered in the member’s register of interests or if he/she has not notified the Monitoring Officer of it.

11.Where a matter arises at a meeting which relates to an interest in Appendix A which is a sensitive interest, the member shall not participate in a discussion or vote on the matter. If it is a sensitive interest which has not already been disclosed to the Monitoring Officer, the member shall disclose he/she has an interest but not the nature of it.

12. Where a matter arises at a meeting which relates to an interest in Appendix B, the member shall not vote on the matter.  He/she may speak on the matter only if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting.

13.A member only has to declare his/her interest in Appendix B if it is not already entered in his/her register of interests or he/she has not notified the Monitoring Officer of it or if he/she speaks on the matter. If he/she holds an interest in Appendix B which is a sensitive interest not already disclosed to the Monitoring Officer, he/she shall declare the interest but not the nature of the interest.

14.Where a matter arises at a meeting which relates to a financial interest of a friend, relative or close associate (other than an interest in Appendix A), the member shall disclose the nature of the interest and not vote on the matter. He/she may speak on the matter only if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting.  If it is a ‘sensitive interest’ the member shall declare the interest but not the nature of the interest.

Dispensations

15. On a written request made to the Council’s proper officer, the Council may grant a member a dispensation to participate in a discussion and vote on a matter at a meeting even if he/she has an interest in Appendices A and B if the Council believes that the number of members otherwise prohibited from taking part in the meeting would impede the transaction of the business; or it is in the interests of the inhabitants in the Council’s area to allow the member to take part or it is otherwise appropriate to grant a dispensation.

Appendix A

Interests described in the table below.

*’director’ includes a member of the committee of management of an industrial and provident society.

*’securities’ means shares, debentures, debenture stock, loan stock, bonds, units of a collective investment scheme within the meaning of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and other securities of any description, other than money deposited with a building socie