Committee roles to (finally) be sorted this afternoon as delay is described as “just the nature of democracy”

Wrexham councillors will hold an extraordinary meeting this afternoon after some members failed to decide who gets what job at their AGM last month.

Councillors managed to re-elect Cllr Mark Pritchard as council leader and councillor Hugh Jones as his deputy, but then stalled when other roles were being sorted out.

It is understood that two political groups, Conservatives and Wrexham Independents, were finding it tricky to agree on a chairperson position that was being allocated, with some behind the scenes ‘firm negotiation’ taking place.

Although the council leader has told us things should be ‘business as usual’ eyes will be on the meeting later to see what passes which vote and if there will be any late inserts of resolutions.

At the last attempt to hold this meeting and conduct the business in its entirety an hour before kick off saw a draft resolution emailed and printed and plopped on the desks of councillors.

We asked Cllr Pritchard how things were going ahead of the meeting today.

“We have a coalition in Wrexham, and needed a little more time to discuss and debate where the positions were offered. It is now business as usual,” he explained.

“Sometimes you need a little more time to resolve problems rather than to continually drag it on. I am pleased with the outcome, we are in a good place.

“I am looking forward to the meeting to promote the coalition, and work in true partnership to improve Wrexham.”

We asked if that meant there would not be a repeat next year, or if deadlines were in-fact deadlines, and therefore we would not see such a double meeting again.

He said: “With regards to the extra meeting, I personally was disappointed that we had to have one.

“You have to understand in a true democracy you need extra time to resolve things, and some things take a little bit longer to resolve.

“I would rather take that little bit longer and get it right rather than push it through and it isn’t right.

“That is just the nature of the discussions and the democracy, I was disappointed, but that is life and that is the political world we live in.”

The executive board managed to get sorted out at the last meeting, complete with the same ten members re-elected to their positions. We have since lodged a Freedom of Information request to discover how many reports lead members have presented and the various portfolio meetings they have held. However that has sadly been bounced back without a proper answer.

We asked the council leader if he still wished to see the senior councillor number reduced, something that would make a cash saving for the council in times where the organisation is keen to point out how tight budgets are due to ongoing cuts.

Cllr Pritchard told us: “I have made my position clear before and it has not changed.”

“The council is run by a coalition. We have to have consensus to move forward on all things. This is my personal opinion, if I had political support, I would reduce the executive board.

“I have said that numerous times, I will not hide from that or change it.

“Will I review it and look for an opportunity to reduce it in the future? Yes I will. I will have to have support from other groups though to take it forward.

“Although I am leader of the council I have to have political support to move things forward. The agreement at this time is ten sit on the Executive Board.”

The extra meeting does mean extra officer time, webcasting hours and general costs – although what that is has yet to be stated.

You can watch the meeting online on the Wrexham Council website from 4pm this afternoon.