Probably by now, you’ve all had your budget-setting Council meetings. A busy time for all of us with additional meetings to consider and scrutinise the budget proposals. It’s nice to be on the other side of this important part of the governance process. Now it’s full steam ahead on election and Member Induction planning for those of us with elections this year, so no rest for the wicked!
March Board meeting
We’re looking forward to our next Board meeting on Friday 25th March. Each Director will give an update on work being undertaken in their areas and, in particular, the progress made with their performance-related objectives. As you know, we will be making a final decision on whether to hold an in-person or virtual conference, AGM and Awards ceremony this year. Keep an eye on the website for further details.
ADSO Awards
Speaking of the Awards, a reminder if you needed it that all four award categories are up for grabs this year:
- Rookie
- Learner
- Team
- Distinguished Service
The nominations process will go live in May so please start thinking about who you might like to nominate. Let’s all aim to have more nominations than for any previous year.
ADSO consultancy services
As many of you will know, ADSO provides a consultancy service to local authorities. Our client base is growing steadily, and I am pleased to say that we have recently increased our capacity and the range of our offer by recruiting additional consultants to undertake such work. They are all highly experienced democratic services professionals. The areas we now specialise in include:
- Constitution reviews and related procedures (for example delegation schemes)
- Peer reviews of democratic services teams and their performance/roles/profile
- Changing governance arrangements
- Overview & Scrutiny reviews
- Civic office
- Councillor Development
- Members Allowances Reviews
- Modernising Council meetings
- Information governance
We pride ourselves on the quality of the service we offer, and we offer very competitive rates. We can work with both members and officers either face to face or remotely. Following the reviews, we can also offer training to relevant staff and/or members.
Please contact John Austin (john.austin@adso.co.uk) if you would like further information.
Peter Sass, Vice-Chair