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09
Sept
Leader of Ripon City Council stands down
Councillor Andrew Williams is stepping down from his role as leader of Ripon City Council after undergoing urgent surgery last month.
Cllr Williams, who has led the council since March 2020, told the Stray Ferret:
As I continue on the road to recovery, I am following advice and taking life easier for the time being.
I will remain as a member of the city council and North Yorkshire Council, but will be reducing the number of meetings that I attend while I am in this period of recuperation.
Yesterday, councillors were informed by email of Cllr Williams' decision.
It came just hours before a full council meeting at which Councillor Pauline McHardy, put forward a proposal calling for the council's standing order 27 to be scrapped - a move designed to end the positions of leader and deputy leader.
The standing order states:
The council shall elect a leader of the council and a deputy leader of the council. The leader and deputy leader shall ordinarily be elected for their term of office as a councillor, but election to this position may be reviewed at each annual meeting of the council.
Cllr Barbara Brodigan provided a written notice signed by seven members supporting the proposal to review the standing order, but the council's chief officer, Paula Benson, advised that the notice had not been received in the appropriate timescale and the matter would need to be dealt with at an extraordinary meeting of the council.
It was agreed that a formal request will be made to the mayor and chairman of the council, Councillor Jackie Crozier, for an extraordinary meeting to be convened.
Cllr Crozier was not in attendance at last night's meeting.
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