“In relation to the 2 December Council meeting, can you please:
(a) explain why you decided to act contrary to advice from the Council's own health and safety advisors that the meeting could proceed safely;
(b) explain why you stated the meeting had been "cancelled", when legal advice has confirmed the Chairman has no power to cancel a meeting of Council;
(c) state which members you consulted, and explain your reasoning for including these members but excluding the majority;
(d) provide copies of any emails sent and received by you in your capacity as chairman of the council, be they from members or officers (copies to be appended to the minutes);
(e) confirm how much your decision to "cancel" the meeting cost the taxpayers of Ryedale.”
Minutes:
“In relation to the 2nd of December Council meeting, can you please:
(a) Explain why you decided to act contrary to advice from the Council’s own health and safety advisors that the meeting could proceed safely?”
Councillor Frank, Chair of Council replied:
“A risk assessment had been completed for the meeting and health and safety instructions drafted. However, in the weeks leading up to the date of the meeting, considerable concern had been expressed by the Government and their scientific advisors, including the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, as to the emergence of the Omicron variant. This had been identified in South Africa. The scientific evidence available at the tie was that Omicron was highly contagious. Further, uncertainty existed as to whether vaccinations would be effective to limit the severity of the symptoms associated with the infection by the new variant. For that reason, to ensure the health and safety of Members and Officers, specifically those who were deemed vulnerable, I took the decision to adjourn the meeting to a later date.”
(b) “Explain why you stated the meeting had been “cancelled”, when legal advice has confirmed the Chairman has now power to cancel a meeting of Council?”
Councillor Frank replied:
“The Full Council meeting of 2nd of December 2021 was adjourned to a future date of 17th of February 2022. Under common law and decided case law, a Chair has the power to adjourn a meeting. Further, it is arguable that the Constitution of the Council grants the Chair the power to alter the date and timings of a meeting. An alternative interpretation states that Rule 26 does not apply to Full Council as it’s under the heading that deals with committees. However, as a common law power exists permitting an adjournment of the meeting, it is not necessary to give further consideration to the interpretation of the Constitution ‘Meetings and Proceedings of Committees’ pages 105 to 122.”
(c) State which Members you consulted, and explain your reasoning for including these Members but excluding the majority?”
Councillor Frank replied:
“The Monitoring Officer rang me on the morning of 2nd December and stated that three of the group leaders had been in touch and asked about the Council being postponed due to the vulnerability of several members of their groups, and I was concerned myself because of the Omicron variant of Covid being so easily transmitted. I asked the Monitoring Officer about the legality of postponing the meeting and he said he would go away and check. He rang me back at 11 o’clock and assured me that it would be legal to postpone and then said it was my decision. He reiterated that three of the group leaders had been in touch with grave concerns about meeting. At that time we didn’t know the severity of Omicron but it had been published that it was easily transmitted and I felt that it wasn’t worth taking the risk of any of our members or staff being in contact with a potentially deadly virus. With a great deal of thought the meeting was postponed with the very best of intentions.”
(d) “Provide copies of any emails sent and received by you in your capacity as Chairman of the Council, be they from Members or Officers (copies to be appended to the minutes)?”
Councillor Frank replied:
“There were no emails, all contact was by telephone.”
(e) Confirm how much your decision to “cancel” the meeting cost the taxpayers of Ryedale?”
Councillor Frank replied:
“The cost to adjourn the meeting was £3,042.97 for Saville’s for audio support. £495 for the Milton Rooms hire.”
Councillor Duncan then asked the following supplementary question:
“When we met as a Council on the 17th of February last Thursday, the infection rate in Ryedale was 473. On the 2nd of December, the date of the cancelled meeting, it was 390. On October the 8th, the meeting which preceded, it was 352. Given that there is no apparent public health logic behind the meetings that have been allowed and the ones that have not been allowed, can you understand why there might be a perception you did not fulfil your duties as Chairman in the non-partisan and non-political fashion expected?”
Councillor Frank then replied:
“I think by the time it got into February we knew more about Omicron, we knew a lot more, the science had moved on about the severity of Omicron. And so I really think that my decision to close, to adjourn the meeting on the 2nd of December was with the best of intentions and it was for the health and wellbeing of our Members and staff, no other reason.
Thank you.”