MINUTES OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF NEWBY AND SCALBY TOWN COUNCIL
held in the Main Hall, Council Offices, 445b Scalby Road,
on Friday 8th March 2024 at 9.30am.
PRESENT: Councillors R Thompson (Chairman), D Bastiman, R Holliday (left 10.15am), B Kendall, B Marley, D Pickersgill, J Shepherd.
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs J Marley (Clerk to Council).
ABSENT: Cllrs. S Barnes, S Foote, J Smith
54/24 NON-ATTENDANCE OF COUNCILLORS
54/24.1 Apologies received & noted from Cllrs. S Foote and J Smith.
54/24.2 Resolved the reasons for absence given by Cllrs Foote (personal) and Smith (prior commitment) be accepted.
55/24 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: none to receive.
56/24 CO-OPTION POLICY
56/24.1 An email containing tweaks to the policy (as recommended by the YLCA) was received & noted. Resolved the changes as recommended by the YLCA be incorporated into the existing policy – Clerk to make the necessary textual changes and update website/council documents as necessary.
57/24 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
At 9.34am it was resolved that in accordance with section 1 of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the next item of business on the grounds it related to personnel/staffing, financial or legal matters.
58/24 CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS
58/24.1 Staffing Matters [Minute 53/24.1 refers] Resolved that the advice provided by the solicitor engaged by the Town Council in this matter be taken.
58/24.2 Staffing levels. Resolved the advice of Council’s HR advisor be noted.
Cllr. Holliday left the meeting at this point.
58/24.3 Hub profitability. Resolved the spreadsheets be anonymised and presented to full Council of 13/3/24 for consideration along with the Clerk’s report.
58/24.4 Complaint dated 5/3/24 to Chairman about Clerk. The Chairman gave details of the complaint and the advice he had received for the Council from the YLCA. Resolved YLCA advice be released to Cllr. Smith for her to draft a response on Cllr. Thompson’s behalf and our solicitor be asked to write a strong letter to the complainant in respect of their use of confidential Council documents in their possession.
58/24.5 Defamation costs. Resolved the advice from NALC via the YLCA be noted.
58/24.6 The initial response to a two-part complaint dated 19/2/24 from a parishioner had not been accepted. The matter would now be referred to full Council but advice was pending from the YLCA as to whether the complaint needed to be heard in private session in accordance with section 7 of Council’s Complaints Policy. ~Proposed Cllr. Thompson, seconded Cllr. Shepherd and resolved Clerk to write to complainant explaining date of Council hearing deferred until advice was to hand.
58/24.7 Resolved Clerk to send a complaint to the Monitoring Officer from the full Council in respect of North Yorkshire Councillor Sharma breaching the Code of Conduct by virtue of his conduct.
Informative Note – Minute 58/24.7 was amended by resolution on 12th July 2024, see Minute 114/24.1. It is the amended version which is shown above.
There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 11.06am.
Cllr. Richard Thompson, Chairman
Dated: 20th March 2024