Decision details
Nomination of one additional Deputy Monitoring Officer
Reference: D49980
Decision Maker: City Solicitor
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Decision:
The workload in relation to Monitoring Officer
work remains significant given the role covers not only Leeds City
Council, but also all the Parish and Town Councils within the Leeds
City Council local authority area.
The recent changes to the senior management arrangements of
Democratic Services and the nomination of a single Head of
Democratic Services has reduced the capacity available to that
individual to undertake solely the role of Deputy Monitoring
Officer (DMO).
It has therefore become necessary to nominate one additional
individual to the role of DMO to increase capacity in order to
ensure a consistently high level of service and to increase the
resilience of the function.
There are no cost implications and no additional remuneration will
be paid as a result of this decision. The role of the DMOs shall be
carried out by Heads of Service within Legal and Democratic
Services. The current grade of those posts are Dir 60%.
The legal position requires that where two DMOs have been
nominated, members and senior officers should have clarity about
with whom they should consult in the absence of the Monitoring
Officer (MO). There are therefore two options:
• first, designate each DMO responsible in the absence of the
MO for different specific functions; or
• second, maintain as much flexibility as possible and simply
nominate a ‘lead DMO’ on a rotating basis which can be
altered to accommodate leave or other absence. (That would not mean
that the DMO who is not the ‘lead’ on a particular day
is not a DMO and/or is not undertaking DMO work. It is expected
that the DMOs will operate seamlessly with the MO so that the
identity of a ‘lead DMO’ on any particular day should
have little if any consequence in practice).
Having consulted with the relevant Heads of Service and in order to
maximise flexibility and resilience, it is proposed to implement
the second option.
Prior to taking this decision, the following people were consulted
and all were supportive of the proposal to nominate one additional
DMO:
• Cllr James Lewis, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for
Resources
• Cllr Elizabeth Nash, Chair of Standards and Conduct
Committee
• Gordon Tollefson, Independent Person
• Tom Riordan, Chief Executive
• Neil Evans, Director of Resources and Housing
For the reasons set out above, it is proposed that the MO nominate
one additional DMO and that this change is implemented by way of an
amendment to the sub-delegation scheme of the City Solicitor and
Monitoring Officer, to add Nicole Walker, Head of Service (Legal)
as DMO, in addition to the Head of Democratic Services.
Wards Affected: Various;
Contact: Catherine Witham, City Solicitor 0113 2474537 Email: catherine.witham@leeds.gov.uk.
Publication date: 13/08/2019
Accompanying Documents: