To receive such announcements as may be made by the Mayor.
Minutes:
The Mayor:-
1. Informed Members of the sad death of Honorary Alderman Ken Hemsley, a former Congleton Borough Councillor, who had represented Odd Rode and had also served on the former County Council. The Mayor had attended Ken’s funeral on 17 November. Members to stood for a minute’s silent tribute.
2. Announced that since the last meeting of Council, he and the Deputy Mayor had attended almost sixty events, details of which had been circulated around the Chamber. Events held on or around Remembrance Sunday had played an important part in the Council’s civic year and this year it had been his privilege to represent the Council at seven separate Remembrance events. He had also attended two Poppy Appeal launches.
3. Announced that in October, along with Councillor Ainsley Arnold and Officers, he had met with the Chinese Consul General in Macclesfield, to discuss the potential for establishing civic and business links between China and Cheshire East and he wished this ongoing initiative well.
4. Stated that one of the joys of being Mayor was the opportunity to help celebrate what was good about the Borough and meeting some of those who went the extra mile to make Cheshire East such a special place. Over the last few weeks it has been his pleasure to help judge and then attend the Local Hero Awards and he had also attended the Your Champions Awards and an awards ceremony for foster carers. There could be no doubt that there were some very special people in the Borough.
5. Referred to the death in the summer of previous year of Tom Jackson from Congleton. Tom had been murdered whilst backpacking in Australia. What made such a sad event even more tragic was that Tom had died trying to save the life of a fellow tourist. On 7th November, on what would have been his 32nd birthday, the Mayor had joined Tom’s family at Tatton, where they planted a tree and dedicated a bench to his memory. He was delighted that Cheshire East had been able to arrange this simple memorial to remember a very brave man. He added that he had rarely met such a wonderful family, a family who have coped with tragedy in a very dignified way and who, along with Tom’s friends, had done much to ensure that he was not forgotten.
6. Announced that he had something important to say about the conduct of Members of the Council, and members of the public at Council meetings. He had been concerned to observe the behaviour of elected Members and of some members of the public at the last Council meeting and reminded the meeting of a number of things:
· That he had been elected by the Council to preside over its meetings and, when doing so, to act impartially.
· That he was committed to repaying the trust put in him, but that he expected from Members of the Council, and from the public, that the office of Mayor would be respected, as constitutional rules required. Members of the Council, and members of the public would be silent when the Mayor spoke and he would not tolerate any behaviour which disrespected the office of Mayor, or which sought to disrespect Members of the Council.
· He did expect Members of the Council to speak passionately about issues which came before meetings, but their contributions must be put to the meeting in a respectful manner.
· At the last meeting of Council, there had been examples of attempts by some to “drown-out” the contributions of others. There had also been some examples of inappropriate language being used by Members. There was also at least one example of a Member who felt it appropriate to “answer-back” after a ruling was made from the Chair. He reminded Members that the ruling of the Mayor on any issue at a Council meeting was final.
· This behaviour would not be tolerated, and he would use the powers vested in him by Council to deal with any similar instances, either today or in the future.
He thanked those present, in anticipation of their cooperation.