Minutes – Full Council (Special meeting) – 11 April 2023

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Full Council (Special Meeting) – 11 April 2023 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Full Council (Special meeting) – 11 April 2023

SPECIAL MEETING OF COUNCIL

Minutes

Date: 11 April 2023

Time: 3.33 – 3.41pmpm

Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: The Deputy Mayor (Councillor Plowman) and Councillors Apel, Barrie, Chant, Corfield, Dignum, Gershater, C Hughes, J Hughes and Scicluna

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk Designate, Deputy Town Clerk, Member Services Support Officer and West Sussex County Councillor Oakley

83. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

RESOLVED to accept and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from the Mayor, Councillor Joy, and Councillors Bell, Gaskin, Lishman, Quail and Sharp.

Councillor Carter was absent from the meeting.

One vacancy.

84. FREEDOM OF THE CITY OF CHICHESTER

To consider conferring the Freedom of the City of Chichester upon Rodney Duggua RD BA (Hons) under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 section 249 (subsections 5 to 10 inclusive) and that the Freedom ceremony be arranged at a later date.

The Deputy Mayor, in the Chair, summarised the proposal and the legal framework within which the Council would be taking the vote on the proposal.

He then summarised the reasons for proposing that Mr Rodney Duggua RD BA(Hons), the retiring Town Clerk of Chichester City Council, met the eligibility criteria of being an eminent person who had acted with distinction and provided civic service.

He further noted that the retiring Town Clerk had been tireless and diligent in his service, most notably in recent times throughout the COVID pandemic, and that his dedication to civic duties and ceremonies had helped raise the profile of the City Council.

The Deputy Mayor’s remarks were fully endorsed by Councillors Scicluna and Dignum and Councillor Chant expressed his gratitude for the support he had received from the retiring Town Clerk when he had been co-opted as a new Councillor to the City Council the previous year.

Councillor Gershater added that he also endorsed the comments being made and remarked that he felt that the retiring Town Clerk was a Master of soft skills with a strong ability to develop a functioning Council.

After a short further discussion it was proposed, put to the vote and unanimously RESOLVED that Rodney Duggua RD BA(Hons) be conferred with the Freedom of the City of Chichester in respect of eminent services rendered to the City in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.

It was further confirmed that the Freedom ceremony would take place at the Town Clerk’s retirement party being held on 26 April 2023 in the Assembly Room.

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: Wednesday 19 April 2023 at 6.00pm

The meeting closed at 3.41pm