Local Council By-elections 19th March 2020

[timmullen1]

Mar 20, 2020 9:14:24 GMT yellowperil said:

Mar 20, 2020 9:07:21 GMT dundas said:

I thought there had to be at least two polling staff on for security and fraud reasons.

but do they have to be doing the actual counting together at the same table? I think it would be perfectly possible to do a simple count like this one and manitain the 2 metre rule.

I thought that; probably split the boxes between three or four tables with a couple of people counting on each one, having counted the postals earlier in the afternoon.

[Arthur Figgis]

Mar 20, 2020 9:10:02 GMT yellowperil said:

Mar 20, 2020 8:27:32 GMT ColinJ said:

I'm astonished to see this morning that I "liked" the post. This can only have happened while I was 'swiping' the page - I'm still getting to grips with my new phone. There's nothing much to 'like' about this by-election with it's ridiculous turnout, continued with to the bitter end when it was unnecessary to do so.

but you still appear to "like" it.  You could always have removed the like any time. I'm always removing likes I have put on accidentally , usually when I've hit the like button by mistake when going for the quote button, or indeed the edit button which might have suggested I was liking my own post. And I have seen plenty of examples where other folk have made that mistake and not corrected it!

Well done you.

[J.G.Harston]

Mar 20, 2020 7:41:49 GMT bert said:

Mar 20, 2020 0:46:12 GMT johnloony said:

An election which is already underway can be stopped on the day if it is disrupted by "riot", but otherwise you are correct: stopping the other by-elections today was illegal. They were advised on Wednesday by the government to abandon the by-elections, and were given assurances that they would not be prosecuted for doing so. I guess that the emergency legislation might have a clause which applies retrospectively to allow it.

There are lots of things happening that 'shouldn't', for example town & parishes taking 'virtual' decisions online, again with the promises that there would be retrospective legislation. Sightings of that rarest of rare beasts, the Lesser Spotted Common Sense

In our Town Council we are discussing decisions via email, then a quorum of volunteers (four of us, youngsters, no illnesses) do a five-minute meeting in a well-spaced meeting room to make it legal. We did Finance last Tuesday where we defered 80% of the agenda, then approved the payments, and closed the meeting. It's not a permanent solution as the defered decisions will pile up and will eventually have to be dealt with. We set and approved next year's budget before this all started, but the biggie at the moment is the AGM. Can somebody who has read the Bill tell me if there's provision to postpone it from May?

[pl]

Mar 20, 2020 10:13:55 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 20, 2020 7:41:49 GMT bert said:

There are lots of things happening that 'shouldn't', for example town & parishes taking 'virtual' decisions online, again with the promises that there would be retrospective legislation. Sightings of that rarest of rare beasts, the Lesser Spotted Common Sense

In our Town Council we are discussing decisions via email, then a quorum of volunteers (four of us, youngsters, no illnesses) do a five-minute meeting in a well-spaced meeting room to make it legal. We did Finance last Tuesday where we defered 80% of the agenda, then approved the payments, and closed the meeting. It's not a permanent solution as the defered decisions will pile up and will eventually have to be dealt with. We set and approved next year's budget before this all started, but the biggie at the moment is the AGM. Can somebody who has read the Bill tell me if there's provision to postpone it from May?

Nope. Though I'd expect some guidance/SI etc at some point.

[The Bishop]

Mar 20, 2020 9:23:13 GMT timmullen1 said:

Mar 20, 2020 9:14:24 GMT yellowperil said:

but do they have to be doing the actual counting together at the same table? I think it would be perfectly possible to do a simple count like this one and manitain the 2 metre rule.

I thought that; probably split the boxes between three or four tables with a couple of people counting on each one, having counted the postals earlier in the afternoon.

Given the number of votes on the day (ie not many) one person should have been enough to count them anyway?

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2020 10:13:55 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 20, 2020 7:41:49 GMT bert said:

There are lots of things happening that 'shouldn't', for example town & parishes taking 'virtual' decisions online, again with the promises that there would be retrospective legislation. Sightings of that rarest of rare beasts, the Lesser Spotted Common Sense

In our Town Council we are discussing decisions via email, then a quorum of volunteers (four of us, youngsters, no illnesses) do a five-minute meeting in a well-spaced meeting room to make it legal. We did Finance last Tuesday where we defered 80% of the agenda, then approved the payments, and closed the meeting. It's not a permanent solution as the defered decisions will pile up and will eventually have to be dealt with. We set and approved next year's budget before this all started, but the biggie at the moment is the AGM. Can somebody who has read the Bill tell me if there's provision to postpone it from May?

I guess you may have seen this, but in case not: www.nalc.gov.uk/coronavirus

[tonyhill]

"Not with a bang, but a whimper".

[andrea]

this is the Upper Stoke count. Pic posted by a local Cllr.

It is not clear how many counters they had and how many meters they were apart given the parties' reps were amassed in front of the tables

[timmullen1]

Mar 21, 2020 13:01:03 GMT andrea said:

this is the Upper Stoke count. Pic posted by a local Cllr.

It is not clear how many counters they had and how many meters they were apart given the parties' reps were amassed in front of the tables

There looks to be two distinct piles towards the top end of the table, and two groups of scrutineers, so maybe four counters?

[J.G.Harston]

Mar 20, 2020 10:17:53 GMT pl said:

Mar 20, 2020 10:13:55 GMT J.G.Harston said:

In our Town Council we are discussing decisions via email, then a quorum of volunteers (four of us, youngsters, no illnesses) do a five-minute meeting in a well-spaced meeting room to make it legal. We did Finance last Tuesday where we defered 80% of the agenda, then approved the payments, and closed the meeting. It's not a permanent solution as the defered decisions will pile up and will eventually have to be dealt with. We set and approved next year's budget before this all started, but the biggie at the moment is the AGM. Can somebody who has read the Bill tell me if there's provision to postpone it from May?

Nope. Though I'd expect some guidance/SI etc at some point.

Any guidance on the AGM yet? Today we've had email conflabs between members and officers and shut down all meetings. We've told the clerks that we're the elected members, we'll take the flack, go ahead and bend things using common sense and phone/email consulation with members.

[pl]

Mar 24, 2020 17:57:49 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 20, 2020 10:17:53 GMT pl said:

Nope. Though I'd expect some guidance/SI etc at some point.

Any guidance on the AGM yet? Today we've had email conflabs between members and officers and shut down all meetings. We've told the clerks that we're the elected members, we'll take the flack, go ahead and bend things using common sense and phone/email consulation with members.

Nothing yet. Most councils are just bending the rules.

Most things can also be delegated to officers (Parish Clerk/CEO etc) in a 5 minute IRL meeting and they can hold virtual meetings to "guide" them.