Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Democratic Services

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Agenda item

To elect the Chairman of the Council for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

Minutes:

1.1          Councillor Arthey MOVED the nomination of Councillor Kathryn Grandon as Chair of the Council and Councillor Carpendale SECONDED the proposal.

 

By 28 votes to 0 votes, 1 abstention

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

That Councillor Kathryn Grandon be elected as Chair of the Council for the Municipal year 2020/21

 

 

1.2             The Chair thanked Clive Arthey for proposing and Sue Carpendale, for seconding her, for her second term as Chairman of Babergh District Council. 

 

1.3             She also thanked her fellow Councillors for supporting her.  In particular, in particular she thanked the Vice Chairman, Adrian Osborne, for his support for the past year and a half, sometimes being asked to stand in for her at short notice and always offering to do whatever he could to be of assistance and for his enthusiasm for all things to do with the Council.  She also thanked the Democratic Services and Civic Office Teams for all the work they have done to support her role – it was often work that was not seen, but was vital in helping the Chairman’s role run smoothly.  She was truly honoured to be selected for a second term as Chairman.  

 

She said it was ‘unprecedented’ times.  When Members were all elected in May 2019, who would have thought that a year later the District would be in lockdown? May 2019 was such a different world.   Organising the Count following the Election would be an interesting prospect now and the Annual Meeting 2019 certainly looked markedly different from this Annual Meeting 2020.

 

The Chair’s first term had been a year of two halves. She had been proud to represent Babergh District Council at so many interesting events and she had attended such occasions with relish and had taken her Civic duties very seriously.   Hadleigh, the town she represented, had clearly enjoyed the fact that she had been given the honour of Chairing the Council and invited her to open Hadleigh on Show, amongst other events.

 

The second half of her term was rather a contrast.  Along with all other events, her planned fund-raising Chairman’s Charity Ball had to be cancelled. But while the crisis of the pandemic had seen many special events cancelled and more importantly in some cases, seen loss of life and livelihood, there had also been times of optimism; doing things differently and Members could be proud of the Council and communities pulling together, showing empathy, working hard and extending a helping hand to those in need.

She had been asked which charity she planned to support in this her second term.  She regretted she had not been able to give as much, as she would have liked to her chosen charity, Hadleigh Dementia Action Alliance, last year.  The Ball was intended to do that in a big way.  Two local companies and a private individual generously gave donations for her charities – she had added Hadleigh Sea Scouts and 5th Hadleigh St Mary’s Guides while planning the Ball.  But of course, without the Ball, those kind donations were all she had been able to offer so far.  So, she had decided to choose the same charity again, Hadleigh Dementia Action Alliance, and officially added Hadleigh Sea Scouts and 5th Hadleigh St Mary’s Guides. She welcomed ideas as to how she could help to raise funds for these organisations during the current climate.

 

She thanked Members for inviting her to be their Chairman for a second term.  It seemed likely that she would be spending much of it behind the screen, but she would do her best to represent the Council to the best of her ability.