To agree minor amendments to the constitution adopted by Council in December 2016 and adopt the outstanding rules and codes.

Council considered the report attached to the agenda which outlined the revisions and additions to the new constitution agreed by council at its meeting on 16 December 2016. The report recommended the approval of minor amendments and the adoption of the outstanding rules and codes.

The chairman of the audit and governance committee presented the report and outlined a required alteration to recommendation (a) to clarify that council was being asked to adopt the outstanding rules and codes and minor amendments to the constitution approved in December 2016 only. Council was not required to adopt the constitution in its entirety therefore the recommendation (a) was revised as below:

the revised constitutional changes listed in appendix 2,  and set out in full at appendix 1, be adopted and implemented with immediate effect.

A member raised a concern regarding the delegation for the writing-off of uncollectable debts by Hoople, this was a particular concern in the context of losses incurred by Hoople and the pensions deficit. The Leader was urged to consider the delegation in light of these issues and address the matter to the appropriate committee. The Leader confirmed he would raise the matter with the audit and governance committee and officers.

A member outlined the continuing relevance of the governance improvement working group and the standards working group to review the introduction of the new constitution and the effectiveness of the new committee sizes. The solicitor to the council confirmed that the audit and governance committee would review the introduction of the new constitution in January 2018 which would include an assessment of committee sizes. In addition, committee sizes and appointments were considered at the annual meeting of council.  

Resolved that:

(a)      the revised constitutional changes listed in appendix 2, and set out in full at appendix 1, is adopted and implemented with immediate effect; and 

(b)      authority is delegated to the solicitor to the council to make technical amendments (grammatical, formatting and consistency) necessary to finalise the revised constitution for publication.