Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jeff Hanna; Andrew Judge and David Williams

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillors Joan Henry and Jerome Neil.

No declarations of pecuniary interest were made.

It was moved by Councillor Stephen Alambritis, and seconded by Councillor Edith Macauley that Councillor Marsie Skeete be elected as Mayor for 2017-2018.

(A copy of the nomination speeches are included within Appendix A to these minutes)

Councillors Oonagh Moulton and Peter Southgate addressed the meeting expressing their support for the nomination.

There not being any other nominations the Mayor put the motion to the meeting and it was

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY

Councillor Marsie Skeete made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office and was invested with the Mayor’s chain and badge of office.

The new Mayor announced that her Deputy Mayor of the Municipal year 2017-2018 would be Councillor Judy Saunders. Councillor Saunders signed the declaration of acceptance of office and was invested with the Deputy Mayor’s badge of office.

The Mayor announced that her consorts would be Arexa Skeete, Yeuton Crandon, Dolores Bisnouth and Stephen Sanders.  The Mayor’s chaplains would be Reverend Gerry Stanton and Reverend Peter Jeffrey.

The Mayor presented badges to the outgoing Mayor, Deputy Mayor and their respective consorts.

The Mayor, Councillor Marsie Skeete, thanked Council for her election for the forthcoming year and announced that her Mayoral two charities as Mencap and Commonside Community Development Trust.

(A copy of her acceptance speech is included within Appendix B to these minutes).

The Mayor invited Councillor Brenda Fraser to receive the Council’s vote of thanks.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Alambritis, moved and the Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor Oonagh Moulton, seconded the vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor.

In doing so both Group Leaders along with the Leader of the Merton Park Ward Independent Residents Group, Councillor Peter Southgate spoke in praise of Councillor Brenda Fraser’s year in office.

(A copy of these speeches are attached as Appendix C to these minutes)

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

That the Council places on record its sincere thanks and appreciation to Councillor Brenda Fraser, for the dedicated manner in which she has served as Mayor of the London Borough of Merton for the year 2016-2017.

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2017 were agreed as a correct record.

The report was moved by Councillor Stephen Alambritis and seconded by Councillor Brenda Macauley.

RESOLVED:

1.            i)    that the constitution of committees, sub-committees and scrutiny bodies set out in Appendix A to the report be agreed; and

ii)    that the allocation of seats, chair and vice-chair positions and the appointment of members to those seats be agreed.

2.            i)    that the constitution of consultative forums and other bodies set out in the revised tabled Appendix B to the report be approved; and

ii)    that the appointment of members to those seats be approved.

3.            the allocation of seats and appointment to the outside organisations as detailed in the revised tabled Appendix C to the report be agreed.

4.            the terms of reference of consultative and other bodies appointed by the Council, detailed in Appendix D to the report be agreed.

5.            to note that the Executive Leader has made no changes to appointments to his Cabinet or to their respective portfolios, outlined in Appendix E to the report.

6.            notes the membership and Terms of Reference of the London Borough of Merton Local Authority Property Company Sub-Committee, as set out in Appendix F.

7.            that the Council’s Constitution be amended to incorporate any changes resulting from the approval of recommendations 1 to 6.