Agenda and draft minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

Councillor Richard Nowak declared his substitution for Councillor Kevin Jenkins.

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.

Members were invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests but no interests were declared.

To approve the minutes of the Joint Senior Staff Committee meeting held on 21 June 2023, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved that the minutes from the Joint Senior Staff Committee meeting held on 21 June 2023, were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions from members of the public.

Questions should be submitted by noon on 27 July 2023to 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 the public.

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

There were no items raised under urgency provisions.

In the opinion of the Proper Officer the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following item. Therefore the meeting is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

‘that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting from the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act indicated against the item’.

The Committee was advised that in the opinion of the Proper Officer, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for consideration of item 6.

The Committee agreed the following resolution:

‘that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting from the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act indicated against the item’.

To consider a report from the Chief Executive Officer, as item 7.

Before the Committee was an exempt report from the Chief Executive Officer as item 7.

The Joint Senior Staff Committee was responsible for the recruitment of the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), Chief Financial Officer and Monitoring Officer, and making recommendations to Full Councils on such appointments.

The report updated Members on progress made in the appointment of the Assistant Director for Finance and Section 151 Chief Finance Officer since the meeting held on 21 June 2023 and provided an overview of the recruitment and selection process along with the necessary documents to support the committee in undertaking interviews and selection.

Resolved,

The Joint Senior Staff Committee

1.1  Recommended that Adur and Worthing Councils approve the appointment of Mrs Emma Thomas as the Assistant Director for Finance (Section 151 Chief Finance Officer) of Adur and Worthing Councils;

1.2  Recommended that Extraordinary Meetings of Adur and Worthing Full Councils be called, in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules at 4.1, to approve the appointment of Mrs Emma Thomas as the Assistant Director for Finance (Section 151 Chief Finance Officer) to both Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils prior to the retirement of the outgoing Chief Financial Officer on 31st August 2023.

1.3  Noted the appointment to the post would be made subject to the approval of both Full Councils.

1.4  Delegated authority to the Head of Paid Service to make minor and inconsequential amendments to the terms of employment.