Importance of Being Elected

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Members of community councils are elected by the local community. They have this in common with local authority councillors, Members of Parliament. Even if, due to a shortage of nominations, your "seat" was uncontested, and no actual election took place, your Constitution provides for nomination and election. If properly nominated you are as much elected as would be the case in a contested election.

For this reason, it is important that each community council distinguishes between its Voting Members and others allowed to sit in at meetings.

As a member you may attend meetings, speak and (if permitted by the Constitution) vote, as of right. You serve for the term allowed by your Constitution. As a community council member you should represent all the community, not any specific group, although inevitably, different members have particular areas of interest. Such diversity can add to the collective strength of the community council.

All Constitutions allow for the co-option of members. Properly co-opted members have all the rights permitted by the Constitution.

Most community councils invite representatives of local government, Police to attend their meetings on a regular basis, and others, for example, Council officials, to attend and speak to the meeting by special invitation. Such "guests" can make an important contribution to the meeting.

All formal meetings should be open to the public (and to the press) unless in the case of confidential matters the Constitution permits discussion in private. It is common practice for the Chairman to ask anyone attending whether they would like to address the meeting and/or take part in the discussion on matters which he/she knows to be of particular interest.

The rights of these latter two groups are clear - no more, no less, than that of any local elector or member of the public.