Last night’s Annual District Council Meeting was a good-natured affair. However it got off to a muted start, with the outgoing chairman, Tony Humphries, absent through illness.
As expected Derek Stansby, the outgoing vice-chairman, was elected as this years chairman, with all-party support. His chosen charity for the year is the British Heart Foundation. Simon Smith was elected to be vice-chairman – the youngest person to hold that position for quite a while.
Terry Cutmore remains Leader, and he has slightly reshuffled his cabinet. Michael Steptoe takes over the environment portfolio (including recycling). Colin Seagers takes over the finance and resources portfolio – a particularly good choice bearing in mind his financial background.
Chris Black remains leader of the Lib Dem group, with Ron Oatham as deputy.
The highlight of the evening was the election of the three Area Committee Chairs:
Simon Smith was elected unopposed for West Area.
Lucy Cox was elected as the chair of the Central Area Committee, beating Heather Glynn and Phil Capon in a threeway contest. None of them got a majority of the votes after the first ballot and Rayleigh Councillor Joan Mockford had to point out to the senior council officers that the rules required a second ballot…..
Gill Lucas-Gill was elected for the East Area.
On consequence of this is that Simon Smith, Lucy Cox and Gill Lucas-Gill are now on the local development framework sub-committee, which means it has two Rayleigh/Rawreth members, two Rochford members, one Hockley member and one Hawkwell member.
And finally – this was the last meeting for longserving council officer John Honey. We wish him well.