Climate Emergency
Members are reminded that this Council has declared a Climate Emergency. This is a serious decision and means that, as this is an emergency, all of us, officers and Members have that in mind as we carry out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.
Declarations of Interest
Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.
Decision:
(1) Mayor of Hertsmere – Councillor Cynthia Barker
It was with great sadness that the Chair announced that the Mayor of Hertsmere, Councillor Cynthia Barker, passed away earlier this month.
A minutes silence was held in her memory.
(2) Audio Recording
The Chair announced that, in accordance with Council policy, this meeting was being audio recorded as well as filmed. The audio recordings would be available to view on Mod.gov and the film recording via the NHDC Youtube channel.
(3) Climate Emergency
Members were reminded that this Council had declared a Climate Emergency. This was a serious decision and meant that, as this was an emergency, all of us, officers and Members had that in mind as we carried out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.
(4) Long Service
The Chair advised that there were three acknowledgements of long Service. All of these officers were present at the meeting:
· Louise Symes:
· Aimee Jarmain:
· Ros Allwood.
The Chair, Councillor Martin Stears-Handscomb, Councillor Paul Clark and Councillor David Levett paid tribute to each of the officers.
The Chair proposed, Councillor Martin Stears-Handscomb seconded and it was:
RESOLVED: That the Council place on record its sincere thanks and appreciation to Louise Symes, Aimee Jarmain and Ros Allwood for their long and valuable service to Local Government.
Ros Allwood thanked the Chair and the Council and asked all Members to visit the North Herts Museum.
(5) Declarations of Interest
Members were reminded to make declarations of interest before an item, the detailed reminder about this and speaking rights was set out under Chair’s Announcements on the agenda.
(6) Rules of Debate
The Chair reminded Members that the normal procedure rules in respect of debate and times to speak would apply.
(7) Comfort Break
If the meeting was still in progress at 9pm, a comfort break would be called at an appropriate place.
(8) Order of Business
There were two referrals from Cabinet that included Part 2 reports - 5 b and c. These would be taken at the end of the meeting.
In addition Item 8 would be taken immediately after Item 4.
Minutes:
Audio recording – 9 minutes 49 seconds
(1) Mayor of Hertsmere – Councillor Cynthia Barker
It was with great sadness that the Chair announced that the Mayor of Hertsmere, Councillor Cynthia Barker, passed away earlier this month.
A minutes silence was held in her memory.
(2) Audio Recording
The Chair announced that, in accordance with Council policy, this meeting was being audio recorded as well as filmed. The audio recordings would be available to view on Mod.gov and the film recording via the NHDC Youtube channel.
(3) Climate Emergency
Members were reminded that this Council had declared a Climate Emergency. This was a serious decision and meant that, as this was an emergency, all of us, officers and Members had that in mind as we carried out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.
(4) Long Service
The Chair advised that there were three acknowledgements of long Service. All of these officers were present at the meeting.
Louise Symes
Louise started with the Council as a policy planner in January 1995 having recently emigrated from Durban in South Africa where she worked as a planner for the south African Government.
Louise began as Principal Planning Officer in 2001 and took on the role of Projects Manager in 2005.
From 2000 to 2013 Louise was involved in preparing town centre strategies, and planning briefs and as well as being involved in the delivery of various town centre enhancement schemes which Members will be aware included Sun Street in Hitchin, Baldock High Street and Fish Hill Square in Royston.
Louise was instrumental in the Council winning a National Award for the Baldock High Street Project, the Horticultural Landscape and Amenity Award in 2009 under the Category Best Commercial Project. The Scheme was also awarded a certificate of Special Recognition at the 2010 National Civic Trust awards.
Louise has also been involved in the project to develop the Churchgate centre since 1999.
Louise became the Strategic Planning & Projects Manager in 2012 and has been involved in the Council’s Local Plan submission.
In her current role as Strategic Infrastructure & Projects Manager, Louise took on the role of Parking – which she sees as a new and interesting challenge particularly with changes in technology.
The Chair congratulated and thanked Louise for her service to the Council.
Aimee Jarmain
From humble beginnings in Leisure Services, as a support assistant for parks and gardens, Aimee then joined the Revenues & Benefits department a year later as a benefits officer. Shortly after attaining her IRRV Technical qualification, Aimee became a Senior Benefits Officer and managed a team of benefit officers responsible for front line benefit services.
In the latter part of 2003, Aimee joined the Technical Team within Revenues & Benefits department as a Senior Technical officer, responsible for monitoring and management of the benefit subsidy grant. Placing context on this, Aimee has overseen over £542 million in central government subsidies to date.
Aimee has dedicated her career to proving much needed support for others, the authority and remains a highly valued member of her team and other stakeholders.
The Chair thanked Aimee for her service and all the hard work over these years.
Ros Allwood
NHDC has been extremely fortunate to have Ros Allwood at the helm of North Herts Museum Service and for her service over the last 25 years.
In this time, her ability to develop high level personal contacts with the Lottery Fund and Arts Council, along with her talent for partnership working and creating joint projects with other museums, allowed the team to punch well above their weight as a regional museum service. This has helped the district to benefit from grant funding and donations, which without Ros, would simply not have been possible.
As a leading expert on the artist Ratcliffe, Ros unearthed and acquired long lost works of art, which were now a valued part of North Herts Museum collection. She has also frequently beaten the odds, achieving ambitious fundraising targets at extremely short notice in order to purchase items at auction which might otherwise have been lost from public view forever.
She should be extremely proud of all she has achieved so far in her career and perhaps most notably, her integral role in the creation of the new North Herts Museum. It is safe to say that without Ros’ knowledge and expertise, the district would not be benefitting from such a well thought out and beautifully presented museum. The district owes her a huge debt of gratitude for all of her selfless efforts and many late nights spent working at the office to realise this project over many years.
More recently, Ros spearheaded the successful efforts to secure the internationally significant Rembrandt in Print Exhibition, which was seen by over 10,000 visitors and which really set the tone for the standard of exhibitions that our new facility now allows us to bring to the district for display.
When asked for their contributions to this presentation, her team were full of praise for her abilities and leadership, with one individual in her team surmising: ‘After 29 years working in Local Government I can honestly say she is the best boss’ which tells you all you need to know about the respect and fondness her team have for her as an exemplary NHDC staff member and as an individual.
Her 25 years of service at NHDC have been a huge asset to the organisation and we are very grateful for all of her work.
The Chair proposed and Vice-Chair seconded that:
That the Council place on record its sincere thanks and appreciation to Louise Symes, Aimee Jarmain and Ros Allwood for their long and valuable service to Local Government.
Councillor Martin Stears-Handscomb paid tribute to Louise, Aimee and Ros. He stated that they demonstrated what a fantastic team of staff were at NHDC and the great service given to the Council.
Councillor Paul Clark congratulated Louise, Aimee and Ros and thanked them for their dedication and service to the Council. He paid tribute to the officers.
Councillor David Levett congratulated Louise, Aimee and Ros. He stated that they demonstrated the amount of valuable experience that is available to support Members and the Council.
Upon the vote it was:
RESOLVED: That the Council place on record its sincere thanks and appreciation to Louise Symes, Aimee Jarmain and Ros Allwood for their long and valuable service to Local Government.
At the invitation of the Chair, Ros Allwood thanked the Council for the kind words and asked all Councillors to visit the District Museum.
(5) Declarations of Interest
Members were reminded to make declarations of interest before an item, the detailed reminder about this and speaking rights was set out under Chair’s Announcements on the agenda.
(6) Rules of Debate
The Chair reminded Members that the normal procedure rules in respect of debate and times to speak would apply as follows:
No speeches may be made after the mover has moved a proposal and explained the purpose of it until the motion has been seconded.
When seconding a motion or amendment, a Member may reserve their speech until later in the debate.
In accordance with the Constitution no speech to exceed five minutes without the consent of the Chair
(7) Comfort Break
If the meeting was still in progress at 9pm, a comfort break would be called at an appropriate place.
(8) Order of Business
There were two referrals from Cabinet that included Part 2 reports - 5 b and c. These would be taken at the end of the meeting.
In addition Item 8 would be taken immediately after Item 4.