Well, what has happened to time this week? Monday feels like ages ago and the rest of the week has been a bit of a blur. Is there an actual scientific term for this phenomenon or is it just a “timey-wimey thing?” (Yes – I am a fan of Doctor Who!)
In any case, what I have really enjoyed about this week is meeting lots of new people. Tuesday was a very sociable day – in the afternoon SLT met with some of our new starters who have joined in the past couple of months – John, Svitlana, Claire, Liliia, Amber and Mike and it was amazing hearing about all the different things they have done before they joined MVDC.
And then on Tuesday evening we held an induction evening for our thirteen new councillors. SLT joined at the start of the session for a quick cuppa and a natter before we got stuck into highlighting some of the incredible things Mole Valley delivers for its residents, as well as the all the things to bear in mind in relation to GDPR, decision making, the Councillor Code of Conduct and using social media. And of course, Councillors needed to be prepared for all the emails they are about to start receiving from local residents. Thanks to our ICT colleagues for the new passwords and O365 accounts they have had to set up and a special mention for the “Fish Fingers and Custard” password which was much appreciated by the member who was allocated that. (I thought that was a cool password too!)
Karen and Lucy also prepared our new members for the stand up/sit down fun and games that happen at the Annual Council meeting every May. Once the Council meeting has concluded, it is swiftly followed by a number of very quick (approx. 2 minutes each) meetings to elect the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for each committee (Cabinet, Standards, Audit, Development Management etc) and the relevant committee members have to stand up so we can clearly see who is voting. Needless to say it can cause a bit of confusion but it’s good humoured too and if you want to see what I mean, you can watch the webcast of the Annual Council meeting next Tuesday evening, 23rd May at 7pm.
As it turned out, Councillors ended up having a double dose of Code of Conduct training this week. On Wednesday evening, I jointly delivered a two hour training session with an external colleague called Gill Sinclair from Bethan Evans on the LGA Model Code and we went through all of the different types of interests members need to declare and disclose, both on our website and at meetings. We also outlined the high standards of conduct expected of elected Members to protect the integrity of decision-making, maintain public confidence, and safeguard local democracy and I am sure you have heard of the Nolan Principles – which interestingly applies to us as well as elected Members.
So that’s more or less what I’ve been up to this week. Do keep an eye out for more details on who the new Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council are after next Tuesday’s Council meeting, as well as details of our Cabinet Members and Chairs of Committees – we will pop further details onto Molly for you.
And speaking of Molly – if you haven’t yet had the chance, do check out the Evolve 26 section which will be added to in the weeks and months to come.
Have a good weekend everyone…I thought I might try and cook up something new…fish fingers and custard maybe?!