SHOCKLACH OVIATT AND DISTRICT PARISH COUNCIL

STANDING ORDERS AND FINANCIAL STANDING ORDERS

 

Standing Orders in boldface are mandatory and those in ordinary type are recommended.  All have been adopted by Shocklach Oviatt and District Parish Council (see below).

1 Meetings of the Council shall be held at 7.30pm in the evening unless the Council otherwise decides at a previous meeting.

2 The Statutory Annual Meeting in an election year shall be held on the first Thursday next following the fourth day after the ordinary day of elections to the Council. The Statutory Annual Meeting in a year which is not an election year shall be held on the second Thursday in May.

3 Three additional statutory meetings shall be held immediately following the Statutory Annual  Meeting and on the second Thursday in the months of January and September and three further meetings shall be held on the second Thursday in the months of March, July and November.

a. An extraordinary meeting of the Council may be called at any time by the Chairman.

b. Any two members may submit a signed request to the Chairman to call an extraordinary meeting. In the event of the Chairman not calling an extraordinary meeting within seven days of receiving such request or refusing to call an extraordinary meeting, the two members may call an extraordinary meeting.

4 The Parish Meeting shall be held annually between 1 March and 1 June (both inclusive).

5 At each Statutory Annual Meeting the first business shall be:

a. to elect a Chairman,

b. to receive the Chairman’s declaration of acceptance of office or, if not then received, to decide when it shall be received,

c. in the ordinary year of election of the Council to fill any vacancies left unfilled at the election by reason of insufficient nominations,

d. to decide when any declarations of acceptance of office and, as appropriate, undertakings to observe the Code of Conduct which have not been received as provided by law shall be received (newly elected members cannot act as councillors until they have made their declarations of acceptance of office and undertakings to observe the Code of Conduct),

e. to appoint a Vice-Chairman where it is agreed to do so,

f. where a Vice-chairman is appointed, to receive the Vice-chairman’s declaration of acceptance of office or, if not then received, to decide when it shall be received,

g. to appoint members of the Financial Committee,

h. to consider the annual statement of accounts and approve the signature of such accounts as a correct record by the person presiding or by the Proper Officer where the person presiding is also the Responsible Financial Officer and

i. thereafter, follow the order set out in Standing Order 6.

6 At every meeting other than the Annual Meeting, the first business shall be to appoint a Chairman if the Chairman and, where appointed, Vice-chairman be absent and to receive such declarations of acceptance of office (if any) and undertaking to observe the Council’s Code of Conduct as are required by law to be made or, if then not received, to decide when they shall be received.

Following completion of the first business, the order of business, unless the Council otherwise decides on the ground of urgency, shall be as follows:

a. after consideration of the Minutes to approve the signature of the Minutes by the person presiding as a correct record,

b. to deal with business expressly required by statute to be done.

7 The person presiding at a meeting may exercise all of the powers and duties of the Chairman in relation to the conduct of the Meeting.

8 Three members shall constitute a quorum.

If a quorum is not present when the Council meets or if during a meeting the number of councillors present and not debarred by reason of a declared personal or prejudicial interest falls below the quorum, the meeting shall be adjourned and business not transacted at that meeting shall be transacted at the next meeting or on such other day as the Chairman may fix.

9 Members shall vote by show of hands or, if at least two members so request, by signed ballot.

10 If a member so requires, the Clerk shall record the names of the members who voted on any question so as to show whether they voted for or against it. Such request must be made before moving on to the next business.

11 a. Subject to [b] and [c] below, the Chairman may give an original vote on any matter put to the vote and in the case of an equality of votes may give a casting vote whether or not he gave an original vote.

b. If the person presiding at the annual meeting would have ceased to be a member of the Council but for the statutory provisions which preserve the membership of the Chairman and Vice-chairman until the end of their term of office, he may not give an original vote in an election for Chairman.

c. The person presiding must give a casting vote whenever there is an equality of votes in an election for Chairman.

12 A motion to vary the order of business on the ground of urgency may be proposed by the Chairman or by any member and, if proposed by the Chairman, may be put to the vote without being seconded and shall be put to the vote without discussion.

13 Except as provided for by these Standing Orders or for the specific purpose of expediting the business of the Council, no resolution may be moved unless the business to which it relates has been put on the Agenda by the Clerk or the mover has given notice in writing of its terms and has delivered the notice to the Clerk at least ten clear days before the next meeting of the Council.

14 Every resolution or recommendation shall be relevant to some subject over which the Council has power or which affects its area.

15 No discussion shall take place on the Minutes except on their accuracy. Corrections to the Minutes shall be made by resolution and must be initialled by the Chairman.

16 A member shall direct his speech to the question under discussion or to a personal explanation or to a question of order.

17 An amendment shall not have the effect of negating the resolution before the Council and

a. if carried, the resolution, as amended, shall take the place of the original resolution and shall become the resolution upon which any further amendment may be moved and

b. a further amendment shall not be moved until the Council has disposed of the amendment previously moved.

18 Members shall address the Chairman.

19 The Proper Officer or, in the absence of a Proper Officer, the Clerk, shall convene a meeting of the Council to consider planning applications as soon as is practicable on receipt of such applications.

OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL AND COMMITTEES

20 The Proper Officer of the Council shall be the person nominated by the Council and, in default of nomination, the Clerk. The responsibilities of the Proper Officer are:

a. to receive declarations of acceptance of office,

b. to receive and record notices disclosing personal and prejudicial interests,

c. to receive plans and documents and retain such plans and documents as agreed by the Council,

d. to sign notices or other documents on behalf of the council,

e. to receive copies of byelaws made by a District Council,

f. to certify copies of bylaws made by the Council and

g. to sign summonses to attend meetings of the Council.

21 In the absence of an officially-appointed Clerk, the person fulfilling the Clerk’s function shall be deemed to be Clerk for the purposes of these Standing Orders.

22 The Responsible Financial Officer to the Council shall be the member of the Finance Committee nominated by the Council. The responsibilities of the Responsible Financial Officer are:

a. to maintain the Council’s accounts in a proper manner,

b. to prepare and supply to each member as soon as practicable after 31 March in each year a signed statement of the receipts and payments of the Council for the completed financial year,

c. to present a signed, dated and certified Financial Statement of Accounts reconciled against bank statements for the completed financial year for formal approval by the Council at its Statutory Annual Meeting,

d. to prepare a formal budget estimate for the following financial year for consideration and approval by Council at its September meeting,

e. to prepare a financial report setting out the Council’s expenditure to date during the financial year as current, its financial commitments and a comparison to the budget estimates for consideration and approval of the precept by Council at its November meeting and

f. to maintain a record of all insurance cover held by the Council, review such cover annually and make to the Council such recommendations to alter the extent and level of cover as may be necessary.

23 Chairmen of committees or sub-committees shall, in the case of an equality of votes, have a second or casting vote.

FINANCE AND AUDIT

24 Orders for the payment of money shall be authorized by resolution of the Council and signed by two members of the Council who are appointed authorized signatories.

Cheque stubs shall be initialled by one of the signatories of the cheque and by a third authorized signatory in order to verify that the cheque stub bears the same details as the cheque.

25 a. Except as provided in paragraph [b] of this Standing Order or by statute, all accounts for payment and claims upon the Council shall be laid before the Council.

b. Where it is necessary to make a payment before it has been authorized by the Council, such payment shall be certified as to its correctness and urgency by the Chairman or, where appointed, the Proper Officer.

c. All payments ratified under subparagraph [b] of this Standing Order shall be separately included in the next schedule of payments laid before the Council.

d. Bad debts shall only be written off with the authority of the Council.

26 Accounts and audit statements maintained and prepared by the Finance Committee shall conform to the standard required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations (2003).

a. An internal auditor, who should be of appropriate standing and totally independent of the Council and of any individual councillors, shall be appointed by the Council. The internal auditor is expected to examine the system of internal control and to report any findings to the Council. The Council shall be responsible for ensuring that the internal auditor prepares an annual report for inclusion in the annual return and that it takes action to address any matters identified by the internal auditor.

27 The Financial Statement of Accounts for the completed financial year shall be published as soon as possible after the conclusion of the external audit and no later than 31 December following that completed financial year.

28 The Council shall maintain fidelity guarantee insurance for all appropriate employees.

CONDUCT OF MEMBERS AND INTERESTS

29 Members must observe the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 14 March 2002, a copy of which is annexed to these Standing Orders.

a. No member at a meeting shall behave in such a manner as to bring the Council into disrepute; neither shall any member persistently disregard the ruling of the Chairman, wilfully obstruct business or behave irregularly, offensively, improperly or in such a manner as to scandalize the Council or bring it into contempt or ridicule.

b. If, in the opinion of the Chairman, a member has broken the provisions of paragraph [a] of this Order, the Chairman shall express that opinion to the Council and thereafter any member may move that the member named be no longer heard or that the member named do leave the meeting and the motion, if seconded, shall be put forthwith and without discussion.

c. If either of the motions in paragraph [b] is disobeyed, the Chairman may suspend the meeting or take such further steps as may reasonably be necessary to enforce them.

d. If a member reasonably believes another member is in breach of the Code of Conduct, that member is under a duty to report the breach to the Standards Board (England).

30 If a member has a personal interest as defined by the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 14 March 2002 then he shall declare such interest as soon as it becomes apparent, disclosing the existence and nature of that interest as required. If a member who has declared a personal interest then considers the interest to be prejudicial, he must withdraw from the meeting during consideration of the item to which the interest relates.

31 The Clerk shall record in a book to be kept for the purpose particulars of any notice given by any member or any officer of the Council of a personal or prejudicial interest and the book shall be open during reasonable hours of the day for the inspection of any member.

MISCELLANEOUS ORDERS

32 All Minutes kept by the Council and by any committee shall be open for inspection by any member of the Council.

33 The public shall be admitted to all meetings of the Council and its committees which may, however, temporarily exclude the public by means of the following resolution:

"that in the view of the special or confidential nature of the business about to be transacted, it is advisable in the public interest that the public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw." (The special reasons shall be stated.)

34 At all meetings of the Council the Chairman may at his discretion and at a convenient time in the transaction of business adjourn the meeting so as to allow members of the public to address the meeting in relation to the business being transacted at that meeting.

35 The Clerk shall afford to the press reasonable facilities for taking their report of any proceedings at which they are entitled to be present.

36 A resolution permanently to add, vary or revoke a Standing Order shall, when proposed and seconded, stand adjourned without discussion to the next Ordinary meeting of the Council.

37 A copy of these Standing Orders shall be given to each member by the Clerk upon delivery to him of the member’s declaration of acceptance of office and undertaking to observe the Code of Conduct.

Standing Orders Revised July, 2009

Adopted at parish council meeting of 9 September, 2009

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