North Walsham Town Council

At the annual Full Council meeting the first item of business is to elect the Town Mayor (Chair of the Council) and the Second item of business is to elect the Deputy Mayor (Vice Chair of the Council) from amongst the other Councillors at that meeting.

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The previous Chair remains in office until his successor is elected. If the previous Chair hasn’t been elected as a Councillor onto the new Council, they do not have the right to vote for the new Chair, unless there is an equality of votes, then they have the casting vote.

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The previous Chair must preside at the meeting until the new Chair has been voted in, and then the new Chair presides the meeting. The Chair must preside any Full Council meeting which they attend.

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In the event of any business having a tied vote, the Chair has the casting vote, in addition to their own vote as a Councillor. This is so the Council can never be deadlocked since there is always a Chair with the casting vote.

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There is no legal requirement that the Chair has to use their own vote or casting vote in any particular way. Also there is no legal prohibition against them using their own vote or casting vote in their favour.

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The Chair and Vice Chair are not automatically elected onto any Committee’s as ex-officio and must be nominated onto any of the Councils Committees in their own right.

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If the Chair of the Council is elected on to any of the Councils Committees, unless the Standing Orders say otherwise they can automatically become the chair of the relevant Committee. If the Committee wants to independently elect a Chair and Vice Chair, this should be stated to that effect in the standing orders and the Terms of Reference of the Committee.

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The Mayor and Deputy Mayor have the right to attend any of the Committees they are not elected on in order to have an overview of the day to day running of the Council. They are not allowed to vote at these Committees and have no more rights than a member of the public. They are not permitted to speak, unless asked their opinion is asked for by the Chair of the Committee.

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Roles and Duties

In addition to their normal duties and obligations as a full member of the council, the Mayoral role is to represent the TC in a ceremonial capacity with the listed additional responsibilities of:-

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• Chairing the Full Council meeting

• Oversee the Council as a whole and make sure all Councillors are doing their duties

• Liaising with the Proper Officer on agenda items for Full Council meetings

• Signing approved Full Council minutes

• Signing approved monthly payments and receipts

• Cheque signatory

• Initialing paid invoices and cheque stubs

• Signing year end accounts

• Signing relevant correspondence

• Signing off the monthly wages