Agenda item - Mayor's Communications.

To receive communications from the Mayor.

15.1         The Mayor welcomed everyone to the meeting and stated that as it was her first full council meeting to Chair, she thought it would be useful to say a few words about how she intend to chair these meetings.  She would adopt a firm but fair approach.  She would endeavour to ensure that all Members, irrespective of party affiliation, had a fair and equal opportunity to speak.  She would, at the same time, be strict when it came to enforcement of time limits.  She would expect a Member to stop speaking and sit down when their time was up and she would remind a speaker when they had 30 seconds left.

15.2         She also expected Members to respect proceedings and, unless there was an emergency or unavoidable reason Members should remain seated and not walk around in the background or have conversations whilst the meeting was proceeding.

15.3         She expected Members to use points of order properly and not use them as a general way of expressing disapproval or objection to what other Members were saying and drew attention to the description of what a point of order was in the papers on the agenda just before the minutes on page 1.

15.4         She hoped Members would understand and co-operate with these ways of working as they all had an interest in ensuring that Council meetings ran smoothly and in accordance with Standing Orders.  She also asked that Members ensured their microphone was pointing almost directly up to ceiling and that they held any papers to side.

15.5         The Mayor stated that she intended to use the electronic voting system for the undertaking of voting on items and as it was the first time there may be a slight delay in enabling the devices at the point of voting.  However, she hoped that it would prove to be more effective and informative for the members of the public present and those watching the web cast.

15.6         The Mayor informed the council that she had agreed to take a late report at the meeting, which was listed as item 26(A) in the Addendum, regarding the changes to the allocations of seats on committees as a result of the Hanover & Elm Grove By-election last Thursday, which altered the political make-up of the Council.

15.7         The Mayor drew Members’ attention to the Addendum papers that had been circulated and noted that in respect of Item 24, Substitution on Audit & Standards Committee and Composition of Standards Panels there was a revised set of wording as there were some discrepancies in the extract and report.  She also noted that a revised version of the Conservative Group’s Notice of Motion, Item 27(f) Traveller Encampments, had been included where the word ‘unlawful’ has been replaced by ‘unauthorised.