Agenda item

In February 2017, Democratic Services Committee discussed and agreed a new protocol to manage deferrals of nominations for the office of Mayor.  This protocol was first put into practice at the Council meeting in January 2018, when it was requested that the protocol be referred back to this Committee for further consideration.

Newport City Council’s method of selecting the Mayor is fair and balanced and determined exclusively on seniority irrespective of which political party he or she represents although there are occasions when a prospective incoming Mayor may need to defer his or her election as Mayor for personal reasons.

There was no written protocol to take account of this situation and in the past there had been an informal agreement between the parties that an individual could defer for twelve months which would allow the individual time to resolve any specific issues but it would also take away the opportunity for individuals to ‘pick and choose’ when they serve as Mayor.

There was a need for clarity on when a Mayor defers his term of office as this could affect the members who are next in line to take up the office.  It was therefore agreed last February that a formal Protocol should be adopted to clarify this and a form of words be written into the constitution that allows an individual to defer for one year from his or her original nomination date and that any longer deferral be a matter for decision by the Council.

The current Protocol also clarified the position with returning Councillors in an election year. In January of each year an individual is nominated to serve as Mayor. However, should that individual fail to retain his or her seat then the Mayoralty would fall to the next in line, according to seniority.

An individual could be re-elected to the Council following an absence and, on strict seniority rues would qualify as Mayor in the year of his or her election. However by that time the Council will have already made a nomination for the coming year and it was therefore agreed that in such circumstances the person already nominated by the Council will become Mayor in the election year and the re-elected member will take his other place according to seniority in the following year. Any agreed deferrals will then be extended for a further period of time.

The protocol had been followed this year, but there were concerns that this had caused delay and confusion with the appointments process.  An application had been referred to Council in January 2018 to defer a Mayoral nomination until May 2021, on medical grounds.  Although this had been agreed, it was also resolved that the Protocol should be referred back to Democratic Services Committee for further review and reconsideration.

This item prompted lengthy discussion on Newport’s method of selecting the Mayor and also how long a member could defer the office of Mayor.

It was agreed that there needed to be a deadline for members to apply for a deferral and that requests should be made to the Democracy & Communications Manager.

It was also agreed that there should be no automatic entitlement to a 12 month deferral and that there should be some “good reason” for the request, not just personal preference. Although it should not be necessary for the deferring Member to justify or explain the personal reasons for deferring for 12 months, they should be required to declare in writing that there are genuine reasons for the deferral. Although there was some concern about full Council having to consider a Member’s personal circumstances and deciding whether this was “exceptional” for the purposes of a longer deferral, it was accepted that there was no other option.  However, it was agreed that the protocol should clarify that any deferral could only be within the current term of office of the Council.

Agreed:

To recommend to Council that the Mayoral Protocol be revised to clarify the following:

(a)          That any Member can defer their nomination as Mayor for a period of 12 months in exceptional circumstances provided that there are good reasons for doing so. The Member would not be expected to provide any personal information, but they should declare in writing that there are exceptional reasons for the deferral;

(b)          That any Member who wishes to defer for longer than 12 months on the grounds of exceptional circumstances would have to provide the reasons for the request and the matter would be referred to full Council for consideration. The maximum period for such a deferral would have to be within the term of office of the current Council.

(c)          That there should be a strict deadline for deferral and Members should be required to confirm their wish to take up the nomination of Mayor for the forthcoming municipal year by the end of October in the preceding year, at the latest. Any Member who had not confirmed their decision by the deadline would lose the right to be nominated.