A live blog of the first meeting of Aberdeenshire Council after the May 4 Local Elections.
Who will be Lord Provost, Council Leader and Deputy Leader? We’ll be updating this post as we find out.
If you want all the excitement of the council meeting from the comfort of your own home, the bus or the doctors waiting room then you can watch the live webcast here Aberdeesnhire Council webcast.
The Agenda and associated documents can be found here on the Aberdeenshire Council website.
Nominations for the position of Provost Cllr Ford nominates Cllr Paul Johnston
Cllr Jim Gifford nominates Cllr Bill Howatson
Cllr Bill Howatson elected as Lord Provost of Aberdeenshire Council with 39 votes. Cllr Paul Johnston got 23. http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?interests=1&memberid=1033
Cllr Ron McKail nominated as Deputy Provost after being nominated by Cllr Jim Gifford
Item 4, appointing a leader. Cllr Jim Gifford nominated
Cllr Norman Smith nominates Cllr Richard Thomson
Cllr Jim Gifford voted in as Aberdeenshire Council leader
Cllr Gifford nominates Cllr Peter Argyle as deputy leader
Approval of the minutes of the last meeting.
Cllr Gifford proposes the minutes but asks about short term working group on Community Councils
Our new Council Leader https://twitter.com/Aberdeenshire/status/865138983210274817/photo/1
Our new Deputy leader Cllr Peter Argyle.
Nice to see two older grey haired males as council leaders. Shows the diversity of Aberdeenshire……
So the new coalition for Aberdeenshire Council is Tory & Liberal Democrats and a handful of Independents
Cllr Anne Stirling (Robertson) is the chair of the Communities Committee
Communities Committee Chair Cllr Anne Stirling and Vice Chair is Cllr Iris Walker
Chair of the Business Services Committee is Cllr Jim Gifford and Cllr Colin Clark is deputy
Education and Children’s Services Committee have Cllr Gillian Owen as the Chair and Vice Chair is Cllr Mark Findlater
How exciting is this?
Infrastructure Services Chair is Cllr Peter Argyle with Cllr john Cox as his wingman Vice Chair
Cllr Ross Cassie voted in as Chair of Audit Committee with the Vice Chair of Cllr Alistair McKelvie
Sorry nodded off for a moment or two there. I don’t think I missed anything
Cllr Martin Ford wants all groups on the Council to be represented proportionally on the committees and groups
Cllr Martin Ford is arguing that he wants the four un-aligned independent councillors to be able to sit on Committees and not miss out.
Confused?
Much confusion in the council chamber as to who wants what, who is seconding what. Head of Legal will have her work cut out…
Cllr Martin Ford has no problem with the proposals to revisit this in June. I bet you can’t wait.
It’s all gone quiet because the administration and other councillors are now oiling themselves up to wrestle each other for places on the different committees.
Once they have battled it out, showered and returned to their seats we’ll know more.
While we are waiting, who do you think would win in a fight between Council Leader Jim Gifford and his Deputy Peter Argyle?
Well this is actually quite exciting.*
*Lie
For what it is worth, I think Peter Argyle would win the fight.
This is what the council chamber looks like at the moment, a huge thunderdome has been set up and councillors go in and fight for their places on committees. Cllr Martin Ford is fighting everyone to ensure that the four unaligned independents are fairly represented on committies
Well, that’s it, the fighting is over, committee membership make up has been decided and the councillors are away to get showered and lick their wounds.
OK the first meeting of the new Aberdeenshire Council has begun, with technical issues. The electronic voting system is br0ken