City of York Council has apologised for a “deeply embarrassing” error which has seen council meetings postponed at short notice for the second time in a matter of weeks.
No meetings will take place next week after public notices advertising them were once again not posted outside the council’s offices, as required by law.
Several meetings were postponed at the end of last month after democracy campaigner Gwen Swinburn alerted the Liberal Democrat / Green-run council to the same issue.
It follows earlier disruption at the start of September when meetings were cancelled following the death of the Queen.
Ms Swinburn said: “I was staggered to see a repeat of the same legal notice failures yesterday, and respect the monitoring officer (Bryn Roberts) for his principled actions again.”
Mr Roberts, who only took up his director of governance role last month, said: “This is the second time in recent weeks that basic procedures have not been properly followed in relation to calling meetings.
“That is completely unacceptable as well as deeply embarrassing for us. Managers have taken steps to ensure this cannot happen again, and we are extremely sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
The council’s democratic services department is carrying several vacancies. Staff are understood to be extremely stretched and upset that basic elements of the job are being missed.
Cllr Andrew Hollyer, Liberal Democrat, said it was “ridiculous” that the mistake had been repeated and has requested a review into “basic administrative practices”.
‘A dysfunctional council’
But opposition party leaders questioned what the ruling party was doing to improve the situation.
Labour leader Cllr Claire Douglas said: “Unfortunately many of the decisions the Lib Dems have taken in control have resulted in a dysfunctional council, often meaning even basic levels of service cannot be delivered.
“The democracy function has been cut back so much by the Lib Dems, yet their response to their own cuts is, appallingly, to blame the staff, many of whom are working over their contracted hours to try and keep the service running.”
Tory group leader Cllr Paul Doughty said: “It’s hugely ironic that the Lib Dem councillor actually employed by their party for communications is the one complaining that his own administration, which runs the council, fails to get to grips with, erm, communications.
“I do know however that some staff vacancies, scrutiny officers for example, remain unfilled since before Covid. While the Lib Dems might not be keen on too much scrutiny into what they’re doing, just what are they going to do about this situation?”
Green group leader Cllr Andy D’Agorne said the delays had been “a very frustrating experience which needs to be addressed.”
He added: “I appreciate that council staff are generally doing their very best and human errors can occur under pressure, but it is important for the democratic process that we ensure residents have due notice of meeting agendas and papers.”
Cllr Hollyer, who was set to chair a meeting that has been postponed, said: “It is ridiculous that this issue has recurred, despite assurances received from the council that revised processes were put in place after the first incident.
“This will cause further frustration and potential difficulties for councillors needing to rearrange work, family and ward commitments and indeed, more importantly, for public speakers that wish to have their voices heard.”
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