Meetings
Meetings
As per the PM's address gatherings of more than 2 people from different households will be dispersed. We have been advising for a week or so not to meet unless absolutely necessary. To be clear, you should not meet in person.
There are a number of apps and websites which can be used to host conference calls or virtual meetings.
Web chats are not recommended due to lack of clarity on who is contributing - usernames hide identity.
We would advise where possible to use Zoom. There are time restrictions with the free package, however, it does allow 40 minutes which should be enough time to transact essential business and delegate powers to the Clerk for many of the other activities that might need to be processed.
The two good things about zoom is that links can be provided to residents (or put up on the website) so that there is still transparency and in these times of being at home it might provide a good audience and potential Councillors in the future. Also the meeting can easily be recorded so that there is an unambiguous record of the decisions.
If you are unable to hold meetings like this, then I would recommend decisions via email where the way Councillors have voted can be evidenced.
While it is technically not legal to hold meetings remotely or to make decisions via email. It is felt that with not being able to meet that Government will shortly bring in measure to allow this way of working.
Further details on organising meetings during the current crisis
Top priority is to ensure all that needs to be delegated to the clerk is done so as a matter of urgency – this can be time limited – it will minimise the need for meetings virtual or otherwise.
Subsequent meetings – keep agenda down to essentials
Holding the meetings. If you have enough Councillors that have the technical ability to hold a meeting on Zoom that is probably the best option as it can be recorded and put on your website so the public can witness the discussions and decisions. You could use mixed media – so if some Cllrs can’t use zoom they may be able to send their comments / votes in by email which could also be put on the website. Remember not every Cllr has to participate – just enough to be quorate. NB if there is not a valid reason for the Councillor to participate then their apologies (if sent) should not automatically be accepted.
If the meeting has to be conducted by email, then the Clerk must compile all the responses into a single document with the agenda – ensure that you do not lose which councillor made which response.
There will be a great emphasis on the clerk to ensure that the resolutions to be considered are very clear as it will be much more difficult to remove any ambiguity that is possible in a normal meeting. You need to be sure that each councillor is voting on the same thing rather than their interpretation.
Trying to hold a meeting by telephone – even a conference call - is not advised as there would be little transparency, even if you could record it, as regards who was saying what – it would also be more difficult to share with the public.
As the public will not be able to attend a meeting the clerk should endeavour to have the unapproved minutes of the meeting on the website as quickly as possible and certainly within a week in order to keep the public informed. There must be an obvious note to the public stating that these are unapproved.
An alternate approach would be to send the minutes around the councillors as soon as they are ready and get email confirmation that they approve them before posting them on the website.
These are uncharted waters and new ideas need to be tried!
