I hope you are well and managing to navigate the brave new world. It has been a busy few weeks for me, as I write this I am two weeks on from working 38 hours solid for the election. I am not sure I have caught up with my sleep yet, my little boy came in the Friday morning and just couldn’t believe that mummy had been up all night. I think my biggest achievement that night was only eating one chocolate bar and one hot cross bun. Anyway enough of that…
Elections 2021
If you looked at the numbers of seats at my authority before and after the election, you wouldn’t imagine there would be much change. On paper it doesn’t look like I should be moaning about anything…but we certainly have had the hokey cokey; new leader, new cabinet, new largest opposition group, all new scrutiny chairs and, oh yes, 31 new members… the induction and support that DSOs provide to new members is superb, but it is hard work and the special part of democracy is the members we work with are so different, their backgrounds and expectations are vast. We have delivered almost all of the induction virtually so far and it goes on into July, but so far attendance and engagement has been good and I have enjoyed for the most part and am sussing out members already. On day five, one new member asked how he could change the name of his electoral division..!
AGMs
In recent days I have seen lots of pictures of AGMs, what an effort this is, you are all doing a fantastic job. I have watched a couple and it is fascinating to see how different they all are. Earlier in the week the new variant caused some concern, my spare room at home is full of face coverings, sanitiser, tape and all the other things that I seem to need for the meeting. We have had to hire a sports centre, I just hope we keep on track! On a more serious note, I hope that your meetings go well, the amount of effort that this meeting has taken so far is phenomenal. Council is always a big deal, the AGM with change of Chairman is challenging outside of Covid times, but this year is like nothing I have experienced. My boss today suggested I had a new job, I am considering updating my email signature to include events management/ production… anyway, good luck to you all and do let us know how you get on.
Remote meetings call for evidence – deadline 17 June
It would also be a good time for me to remind you of the need to complete the Local authority remote meetings call for evidence. Now more than ever it is important that your views, those of your members and your local authority are heard. The deadline of 17 June is fast approaching, so do take a look and respond ASAP.
ADSO training course – Introduction to Democratic Services
I am pleased to say that Peter Sass and Lennox Beattie delivered the first Introduction to Democratic Services session last week. It was a great success with 20 members in attendance. We hope those who attended found it useful and go on to have good careers in Democratic Services.
We will be advertising a new date in due course so if you are interested in finding out more, visit our website for course details and register your interest by emailing Kirsty.Lowe@emcouncils.gov.uk
ADSO Webinars
The Combined and Themed Webinar has been postponed from May, we will advise you of further details and the date as soon as possible. If this is something you are interested in, please look out for further details.
For those of you who have your AGMs this week, good luck and enjoy the bank holiday when you reach it!
Joanna Boaler, Director of Communications