Minutes – Annual Meeting of the City Council (Mayor Making) – 17 May 2023
The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Annual Meeting of the City Council (Mayor Making) – 17 May 2023 – agenda and papers
The minutes of this meeting are presented below.
You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Annual Meeting of the City Council – 17 May 2023
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Minutes
Date: 17 May 2023
Time: 6.00pm – 6.39pm
Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ
PRESENT: Councillors Apel, Butler, Chant, Corfield, C Gershater, J Gershater, Knight, Kondabeka, Loxton, Miall, Moore, Pramas, Quail, Scicluna and Vivian
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Retiring Mayor, Mr Julian Joy, Retiring Mayor’s Consort, Incoming Deputy Mayor’s Consort, Mayor’s Chaplain, Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Member Services Support Officer, Macebearer, Front of House Supervisor, Finance Assistant. Ms Lindsey Parslow, CEO of Business2Schools, a number of members of the public.
Apologies were noted for Councillors Hitchman, McHale and Squire
1. ELECTION OF MAYOR 2023-2024
The Mayor, Mr Julian Joy, in the Chair for this item only.
It was moved by Councillor Chant, seconded by Councillor Quail and unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor Craig Gershater be and is hereby elected Mayor of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting and that the allowance to be paid to him be at the rate of £4,000 per annum (exclusive of additional allowances already paid).
The new Mayoress, Councillor Judy Gershater, was invested with her Chain of Office by the retiring Mayor, Mr Julian Joy.
2. DECLARATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICER BY THE MAYOR
Councillor Gershater in the Chair.
Councillor Gershater, having been invested with the Chain of Office and presented with the Mayor’s ring, walking stick and gold snuff box, then made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.
3. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY MAYOR 2023-2024
It was moved from the Chair, proposed by Councillor Moore, seconded by Councillor Knight and unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor Maureen Corfield be and is hereby appointed Deputy Mayor of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting.
The Deputy Mayor’s Badge and Walking Stick were presented to Councillor Corfield and the Deputy Mayor’s Consort Badge was presented to Mr Rob Corfield.
The new Deputy Mayor responded and informed those present that she was deeply honoured to have been appointed and would do her utmost to fulfil the responsibilities of Office and support her fellow Councillors as well as the wider population of Chichester.
4. ELECTION OF BAILIFF 2023-2024
It was moved by The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Corfield, seconded by Councillor Butler and unanimously RESOLVED that Councillor Chant be elected Bailiff of the City of Chichester until the date of the next Annual Meeting.
The Bailiff’s Badge of Office and Walking Stick were presented to Councillor Chant.
At this point, the Mayor noted his thanks to his fellow Councillors for electing him to Office and also the City Council Officers for their efforts in arranging the meeting itself.
5. SELECTION OF STANDING COMMITTEES 2023-2024
The Mayor presented the document outlining the proposed memberships of the three Standing Committees that had been circulated to Councillors.
RESOLVED to accept the proposed Standing Committee memberships as tabled.
6. SELECTION OF SUB-COMMITTEES 2023-2024
The Mayor also presented the proposed memberships of the current Sub-Committees as listed on the same document noted in minute 5.
Councillor Chant raised a point of order with the Town Clerk and was advised that the membership of the Business Plan Working Group should be deferred to the first meeting of the Finance Committee on Tuesday 13 June 2023.
RESOLVED to accept the proposed Sub-Committee memberships as tabled.
7. MINUTES OF COUNCIL
It was moved by the Mayor and duly seconded and RESOLVED that the minutes of the Meeting of Council held on 19 April 2023 be approved, adopted and signed as a correct record.
8. LOCALISM ACT 2011 – THE GENERAL POWER OF COMPETENCE
The Town Clerk summarised her report that had been circulated with the agenda.
It was proposed from the Chair, duly seconded and RESOLVED that Chichester City Council continues to meet the eligibility criteria to exercise the General Power of Competence until the date of the next Annual Meeting of Council in an election year.
9. STANDING ORDERS
The Town Clerk summarised her report that had been circulated with the agenda, explained the reasons for the proposed changes and why it was being recommended that the required annual reviews be more evenly spaced through the Council year.
It was proposed from the Chair, duly seconded and RESOLVED that the changes to the City Council’s Standing Orders, as proposed by the Town Clerk, be adopted and made effective with immediate effect.
10. DISPENSATION POLICY
The Town Clerk explained Standing Order 7 of Chichester City Councils Standing Orders. She also explained about the Dispensation Request Form and advised Councillors that any requests for dispensations applied for by Members and approved by Council could be in effect for the term of the Administration and would help streamline the declaration of interests required at the start of every meeting.
It was then proposed from the Chair, duly seconded and RESOLVED that the Dispensation Request form, as presented, be adopted.
11. MEETING TIMES
The Mayor informed Members that it was his intention to limit the discussion about meeting starting times to those for full Council meetings and that he proposed that this be set at 7.00pm.
He recommended to Members that the individual Standing Committees and Sub-Committees should set their own meeting times at their first meetings.
It was then proposed from the Chair, seconded by the Deputy Mayor and Councillor Vivian and RESOLVED that Full Council meetings would have a start time of 7.00pm and that the Standing Committees and Sub-Committees would resolve their start times at their first meetings.
Councillors Chant and Apel abstained and Councillor Scicluna voted against.
12. MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Mayor thanked those present for his election and expressed the opinion that he felt that 2023-2024 would be an exciting year with many possibilities.
He informed Members that his Mayor’s Chaplain would be Mr Bruno Kondabeka.
The Mayor further informed Councillors that the Mayor’s charities for the year 2023-2024 would be Second Chance Chichester and Chichester District Food Bank.
13. VOTE OF THANKS TO THE RETIRING MAYOR
The Mayor thanked the retiring Mayor, Mr Julian Joy, for his work during the proceeding Council year and for the advice that he had given to him as the incoming Mayor.
He further thanked Mr Joy for showing how Councillors who also hold jobs could be supported.
The Mayor congratulated Mr Joy on the recent birth of his baby daughter and wished his family the best for the future.
The retiring Mayor, Mr Joy, thanked the new Mayor for his kind words.
He summarised some of the highlights of his year, including the Queen’s Jubilee, the new Twinning relationship with Speyer, Germany and his attendance at the Buckingham Palace Tea Party where he met the new King just before his Coronation.
He also mentioned some of the more difficult moments, including the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and the proclamation of the ascension of King Charles III.
Mr Joy gave an overview of the work of the two charities that he had chosen for his Mayoral year, Business2Schools and Second Chance Chichester. He expressed pride that Chichester had taken in the highest number of Ukrainian refugees of any city in the UK per capita and that Business2Schools had been able to support this with laptops and other equipment.
The Business2Schools CEO, Lindsey Parslow, was then presented with a cheque from the Mayor’s charity.
In the absence of a representative from Second Chance Chichester, it was noted that the cheque from the Mayor’s charity would be presented at a later date.
Mr Joy closed his comments by wishing the new Council administration all the best for the next four years.
14. COMMON SEAL
RESOLVED that the Common Seal be affixed to any documents necessary to give effect to the resolutions passed at this meeting.
DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: 28 June 2023 at 7.00pm
The meeting closed at 6.39pm