Agenda and minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

No substitutions were declared.

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.  

If in doubt, contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

To receive any questions from members of the public.

Questions should be submitted by noon on Friday 16 June 2023 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk   

(Note: Public Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from members of the public.

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent.

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

To consider a report from the Head of Paid Service, as item 5.

Before the Committee was a report from the Head of Paid Service as item 5. 

The Assistant Director for Finance & Chief Financial Officer for Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils was due to retire.  The Chief Financial Officer is one of three statutory roles required by the Councils and the terms of reference for the Joint Senior Staff Committee require the appointment process to be approved by the Committee prior to a referral to Full Council. 

The purpose of the report was to obtain the Joint Senior Staff Committee’s approval to the proposed recruitment process set out in paragraph 4 of the report and the terms and conditions upon which it is proposed the Statutory Chief Officer role of s151 Chief Financial Officer is appointed.  

It was anticipated that the Chief Financial Officer would retire in August, with a date to be confirmed.

Members sought clarification regarding their involvement in the recruitment process and the timeline for recruitment. Offices advised that the Joint Senior Staff Committee would be responsible for interviewing the shortlisted candidates before recommending a candidate to both Full Councils for appointment. It was noted that extraordinary Council meetings may need to be convened for the purpose of approving an appointment.     

Resolved,

The Joint Senior Staff Committee

1.     approved the recruitment of the Section 151 Chief Financial Officer for Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils on the terms set out in this report; 

2.     agreed that where the recruitment process was incomplete at the date of retirement and as an alternative option set out in paragraph 3.3 of the report,  delegated authority to the Chief Executive Officer in consultation with the Leaders and the Joint Chairs of the Committee to recommend to Full Council the appointment of an Interim Chief Financial Officer on substantially same terms and conditions as set out in this Report.