Cheshire East Council will hold its final meeting on May 4 before it changes from a Cabinet to committees system.
The authority’s Annual General Meeting will be held remotely on Tuesday 4 May, at 5pm.
It will confirm the appointment of Mayor and will see the election of leader, deputy leader and chairs of committees.
The meeting will also mark the formal transition of the council from Cabinet-led governance arrangements to a committee system of decision-making.
The new system was pledged by the Labour-Independent ruling group who took control of the authority in the last local elections.
Emergency coronavirus regulations, permitting councils to hold meetings virtually, are due to expire on May 7.
The council’s AGM was previously scheduled for May 12, but it decided a physical meeting of the council’s 81 members, supporting officers and members of the public would not be Covid-safe.
So it was decided to move the AGM forward to May 4 to allow the meeting to be undertaken virtually under the emergency regulations.
The formal civic Mayor-making ceremony, normally undertaken at AGM, will now take place later in the year, Covid regulations permitting.
A legal challenge regarding the status of virtual meetings has been brought by lawyers in local government, the Association of Democratic Services Officers and Hertfordshire County Council.
At a court hearing on April 21, the High Court was asked to declare that the Local Government Act 1972 already empowers local authorities to hold meetings remotely, regardless of the coronavirus regulations.
However, no decision on this case has been published.
Do we need 82 (figure on CEC website) Councillors? There are 52 wards so surely a reduction to 52 as a starter would save quite a bit annually. Also with emails/mobile phones etc much of their “work” can be done via this process. Is this worth considering?
Continual circus.