Minutes – Personnel Sub-Committee – 1 September 2022
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Personnel Sub-Committee – 1 September 2022 – agenda and papers
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Personnel Sub-Committee – 1 September 2022
PERSONNEL SUB-COMMITTEE
MINUTES
Date: 1 September 2022
Time: 2.00pm – 3.25pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillor Scicluna (Chairman) and Councillors Apel, Barrie, Bell, Dignum, Gershater and Plowman
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Mr David Maycock (South East Employers)
18. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
RESOLVED to accept and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from The Mayor (Councillor Joy) and Councillor K Hughes
19. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING
No declarations of interest were given.
20. MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 8 AUGUST 2022
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 8 August 2022, having been circulated; be approved and signed as a correct record.
21. PUBLIC BODIES (ADMISSION TO MEETINGS ACT 1960)
RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from this meeting for agenda items 5 and 6 due to the nature of the business to be transacted, namely confidential staffing matters.
22. SENIOR STAFFING MATTERS
The Sub Committee gave further consideration to the drafts of the following documents produced by South East Employers relating to the Town Clerk’s job:
a) Person Specification
b) Job Description
c) Timetable for future action.
With regard to the job description, a number of comments were made by the Sub Committee and these were incorporated by David Maycock.
It was agreed that, with regard to the Person Specification, the ‘Desirable’ and ‘Essential’ categories for the various roles be deleted and a numerical scoring system substituted as an ‘internal use only’ aid to the interview panel.
As respects the Job Description, with a few minor comments, this was agreed.
The proposed timetable of future actions was agreed, other than for the suggestion about meeting with stakeholders being deleted.
It was agreed that the Credo psychometric testing system would be used, the cost of this would be £240 per candidate.
It was further agreed that David Maycock would sift the applications received and reduce these down to a final short list of six candidates – although it was accepted that this final number was not in tablets of stone in the case of candidates of equal strength.
The Town Clerk said that, in order to expedite matters, he would draft both a ‘Mayoral Welcome’ by the Mayor and the A4 ‘Introduction to Chichester’ documents for inclusion the Welcome Pack.
It was agreed that shortlisted candidates would be required to give a presentation, say 15 minutes maximum, on a Parish Council related topic prior to an in depth interview of about an hour.
It was further agreed that, for various reasons, CV’s only would not be accepted and that the City Council job application form should be used.
The overall aim was that a new Town Clerk would be in post for April 2023.
David Maycock advised that he would supply an updated version of these documents to the Sub Committee for final comment.
A decision would be made at a later date about the composition of the Interview Panel.
David Maycock advised that, from the elected member perspective a total of 3 Councillors was the ideal number. He would also be present as the Council’s HR Adviser and the Town Clerk would also be in attendance to offer any specialist advice about Council work.
Councillors Apel and Barrie left the meeting prior to conclusion due to prior appointments.
23. PROPERTY MANAGER
It was agreed that an application by the Property Manager concerning his level of remuneration would be considered by South East Employers on receipt. SEE would employ the Local Government Job Evaluation Scheme and also consider comparable posts in the South East.
24. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
To be confirmed.
The meeting closed at 3.25pm