In relation to matters on the agenda, seek declarations of interest from Members in accordance with the provisions of the Fire Authority’s Code of Conduct for Members.

Cllr Powell requested that a Personal, Non-Prejudicial interest be recorded noting her employment with Sussex Police.

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Fire Authority considered the report of the Monitoring Officer inviting the Fire Authority to elect a Chairman and to request, once elected that they advise on their preferred title. (Copy in Minute Book)

The Combination Order for the creation of the East Sussex Fire Authority set down the procedures for the election of the Chairman of the Authority. 

The Standing Orders of the Fire Authority required a Chairman to be elected from its Members as the first item of business at the annual meeting.

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

       i.          appointed Councillor Roy Galley as Chairman of the Authority; and

      ii.          the Chairman advised that his preferred title was that of ‘Chairman’.

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Fire Authority considered the report of the Monitoring Officer inviting them to elect a Vice-Chairman for the forthcoming year and, once elected to ask the Vice-Chairman to advise of their preferred title.

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

       i.          Appointed Councillor Carolyn Lambert as Vice-Chairman of the Authority; and

      ii.          The Vice-Chairman advised that her preferred title was that of ‘Vice-Chair’.

Apologies had been received from Cllrs Boorman, Peltzer Dunn and Dowling.

The Chairman welcomed Cllrs Bowdler, Nemeth and Belsey who were attending as substitutes for those Members who were unable to attend.

Any Members wishing to raise urgent items are asked, wherever possible, to notify the Chairman before the start of the meeting. In so doing they must state the special circumstances which they consider justify the matter being considered urgently

The Chairman of the Fire Authority introduced all Members and officers in attendance.

Following the Brighton & Hove City Council Elections, the Chairman welcomed the newly appointed Members of the Fire Authority, namely Cllr Marianna Ebel, Cllr Amanda Evans, Cllr Les Hamilton and Cllr Steph Powell.

The Chairman also welcomed back Cllr Garry Peltzer Dunn and Cllr Carol Theobald who had been re-appointed by Brighton & Hove City Council.

The Authority welcomed back Cllr Peter Pragnell who had been recently appointed by East Sussex County Council following a change in their Outside Body appointments.

The Chairman asked that the Fire Authority formally record its thanks to Cllr Lizzie Deane, Cllr Adrian Morris, Cllr Jackie O’Quinn, Cllr Nancy Platts and Cllr Simon Elford.  The Fire Authority thanked them all for their dedicated service during their time as Members.  The Authority was grateful for their contributions to the Fire Authority’s work and wished them well in the future.  Each of these departing Members would be written to individually to thank them.

The Chairman thanked Cllr John Barnes for his service to the Fire Authority during his time as Chairman.  The Authority had benefitted greatly from his knowledge, kindness and service during his tenure as Chairman.  As a token of thanks the Authority presented him with a set of East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service cufflinks.

Thanks were given to Cllr Carol Theobald for her support to the Authority during her time as Vice-Chairman.

There were none.

There were none.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 February 2019 be approved and signed by the Chairman. (Copy in Minute Book)

The Chairman will call the item numbers of the remaining items on the open agenda. Each item which is called by any Member shall be reserved for debate. The Chairman will then ask the Fire Authority to adopt without debate the recommendations and resolutions contained in the relevant reports for these items which have not been called.

Members reserved the following items for debate:

10        Political Representation on the Panels of the Fire Authority

12        Member Attendance 2018/19

RESOLVED – That all other reports be approved according to the recommendations set out.

Report of the Monitoring Officer

The Fire Authority received the report of the Monitoring Officer (MO) seeking to secure political balance on Panels in accordance with the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 and agree the resultant membership to the Panels of the Fire Authority. (Copy in Minute Book)

The Fire Authority was required to keep under review the allocations of seats on Committees and other bodies to ensure, so far as practicable, that they reflected the political groups on the Authority. The rules governing this representation were outlined in the report.

Following the elections at Brighton & Hove City Council in May 2019 there were now four political groups on the Fire Authority, namely Conservative, Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat, previously there had been three. There was also one Independent Member of the Fire Authority but single members cannot constitute a political group. As a result of this increase in political groups, the allocations to panel memberships had altered with the proposed political proportionality for 2019/20 shown in Appendix 2 to the report.

The Authority agreed to the proportionality and all political groups were in the position to agree panel memberships at the meeting:

It was proposed that there might be merit in the Authority appointing the Chair of both the Policy & Resources and Scrutiny & Audit Panels at this meeting and letting the remaining Panels appoint at their first meetings. A discussion followed and whilst there was not full support for this approach it was agreed that these two appointments be made.

Cllr Peltzer Dunn was nominated as Chairman of the Policy & Resources Panel by Cllr Galley, seconded by Cllr Earl-Williams.  The nomination was uncontested and passed by a vote of 8 in favour and 1 against.

The position of Chairman of the Scrutiny & Audit Panel was contested:

Cllr Barnes was nominated by Cllr Galley, seconded by Cllr Taylor.

Cllr Lambert was nominated by Cllr Tutt, seconded by Cllr Scott.

A vote was held with the following results:

Cllr Barnes – 10 in favour and 6 against

Cllr Lambert – 8 in favour and 10 against

Cllr Barnes was duly elected as Chairman of the Scrutiny & Audit Panel for the forthcoming year.

The Authority also agreed to the appointment of the following Member Lead roles:

Health & Safety – Cllr Lambert

Assurance & Peer Review – Cllr Barnes

Inclusion & Diversity – Cllr Osborne

IT – Cllr Tutt

Estates – Cllr Peltzer Dunn

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

       i.          confirmed the Panel arrangements and political representation as set out in the Report;

      ii.          agreed (with no Member voting against)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer

The Authority received the Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer which informed Members of the dates of meetings of the Fire Authority and Panels for the remainder of 2019 and 2020. (Copy in Minute Book)

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority noted the dates of meetings of the Fire Authority and Panels for the next 12 months.

Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer

The Authority considered the report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer which presented for monitoring purposes the Member attendance at formal East Sussex Fire Authority meetings for 2018-19. (Copy in Minute Book)

Overall the report was welcomed by Members, and whilst it was appreciated that at times it is difficult to attend meetings, it was felt that the report was a way of reinforcing the importance of attendance. Members were assured that all apologies were noted and that it was understood and appreciated that there were times when non-attendance was unavoidable, these were recorded but not included in this report as it would have involved sharing personal information which would not have been appropriate.

A discussion followed during which comment was made on the presentation of the data with suggestions for future reports including the inclusion of a column referencing the appointment of substitutes. 

The Authority were reminded that this was the first report of its type and the intention was that it would grow to include not only formal meetings of the Authority and its Panels but also attendance at open days, seminars, additional meetings and one off events. This would provide in future a fuller picture as attendance at formal meetings is only partially representative of a Fire Authority Members commitment.

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority:

       i.          noted the summary of Members attendance at formal Authority meetings for 2018-2019 as set out at Appendix A to this report;

      ii.          agreed that from June 2019 Member attendance at formal meetings will be published on the Fire Authority’s website; and

     iii.          agreed that Member attendance will be reported annually to the Scrutiny & Audit Panel for monitoring purposes.

Report of the Assistant Director Resources/Treasurer

The Fire Authority received the Report of the Assistant Director Resources/Treasurer.  The Annual Treasury Management Stewardship Report is a requirement of the Fire Authority’s reporting procedures and informed Members of Treasury Management Performance for 2018/19 and compliance with Prudential Indicators. (Copy in Minute Book)

RESOLVED – That the Fire Authority noted the Treasury Management Performance for 2018/19.