PROPOSALS:Elected Mayor, Council Manager and Deputy Mayor
The ELECTED MAYOR will supply the direction and profile of the COUNCIL. The MAYOR will seek co-operation and co-ordination in a federal-like structure of local government. The MAYOR will serve as a political adhesive to prevent fragmentation. To this purpose, the MAYOR will be endowed with referendum, brokerage and scrutiny powers employed solely as a last resort to represent the will of the people. The MAYOR will issue guiding principles which all parts of the COUNCIL will be expected to follow as good practice (see below). Any apparent breaches of the principles will lead to the MAYOR publishing a scrutiny report.

The MAYOR will be the embodiment of the COUNCIL when dealing with democratically constituted organisations (the elected interacting with the elected) where it would be impractical for the TOWN ASSEMBLIES to deal with them. The MAYOR and DEPUTY MAYOR will jointly set up a Mayoral Community Fund started by deductions from their salaries and either will have the power to award grants. Supposing the MAYOR is unable to continue in the long term, say due to illness, then a Mayoral election will result in order to satisfy the democratic imperative.

The COUNCIL MANAGER will be responsible for the operations of the COUNCIL. The COUNCIL MANAGER will be answerable to the MAYOR for the effective running of the external operations (services to the public via the TOWN ASSEMBLIES). The COUNCIL MANAGER is also the Chief Human Assets (Personnel) Officer and will be answerable to the MAYOR for the effective running of the internal operations (services to employees). The MAYOR will select the COUNCIL MANAGER and will possess the power of dismissal if the COUNCIL MANAGER is ineffective in running operations because the MANAGER is instrumental for the MAYOR in a 'sink or swim' way in these proposals.

Eligibility for the post of MANAGER should not be restricted to current Council staff. The restriction appears to defeat a main intention of the legislation which is to make Councils less inward-looking and more open. It also seems to confound the social inclusion element of sustainability. In this context, continuity must submit to accountability and transparency since the restriction could be perceived as favouritism. This would be a bad start for a newly elected MAYOR bringing a fresh approach and who as importantly has to be seen to be bringing it.

The ELECTED MAYOR will appoint the DEPUTY MAYOR who does not have to be a Councillor. The appointment of a Councillor to be the DEPUTY is inconsistent with accountability and transparency. A Councillor is elected but not on the basis of a contest for DEPUTY MAYOR. Besides under the standard format, a deposed Councillor is disallowed from continuing as DEPUTY. It is troublesome that a council ward election could be hijacked by the incumbent being the DEPUTY MAYOR. The option of a directly elected DEPUTY is disagreeable because it dilutes the office and profile of the MAYOR.

The MAYOR will have the power to dismiss the DEPUTY. The DEPUTY MAYOR will stand in for the MAYOR if the MAYOR is unavailable. As stand-in, the DEPUTY will lack the role of scrutiny because this should only be vested in an elected representative. The powers of brokerage and holding a referendum are different in that they merely facilitate the democratic will. The DEPUTY MAYOR will be replaced annually. This is to limit the office of DEPUTY to avoid any perceived challenge by one who is unelected to one who is elected. In this respect, the DEPUTY will be the substitute for the role of Civic Mayor which will be abolished. The DEPUTY will personify the COUNCIL where it is impractical for TOWN ASSEMBLIES to liaise with organisations with appointed officers (the unelected interacting with the unelected).

PROPOSALS:Town Assemblies, Council and Good Practice Guiding Principles
The principle of subsidiarity is a part of EU policy and sustainability. Correspondingly the direction taken by Government is to give the people more say in how their Council is run. The Government has created the opportunity for areas to achieve Parish Council status and of course at a UK level, devolution is a reality. Regional Assemblies are in place and developing. The TOWN ASSEMBLIES are consistent with the trend, strengthening the existing District Assemblies in Tameside. The MAYOR will introduce nine TOWN ASSEMBLIES (Ashton, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley, Mottram and Stalybridge). Each TOWN ASSEMBLY (similar to an Area Committee) will receive a dedicated budget to acquire the best value services. The overarching MANAGER will ensure the viability of the ASSEMBLIES through a network of services provided to the ASSEMBLIES by centralised staff for reasons of efficiency.

The ASSEMBLIES will deliver 'door-step' democracy and the decision-makers will be less remote. Each ASSEMBLY will make binding decisions on all matters for its own town except where the MAYOR chooses to hold a borough-wide referendum or a referendum in one or more of the towns. It is anticipated that a referendum will serve as a democratic safeguard where Councillors on a TOWN ASSEMBLY are fairly evenly split for and against an item or where a TOWN ASSEMBLY appears not to be representative of the town residents' view of an item or where an issue arises that crosses TOWN ASSEMBLY boundaries or affects the whole of the borough and agreement cannot be reached. Additionally the MAYOR will act as a scrutineer of the ASSEMBLIES and a broker of consensus between ASSEMBLIES to avoid the need for a referendum. The MAYOR'S scrutiny process will include a monthly twenty questions session with the public.

It's envisaged that full COUNCIL will only meet to set the annual budget. Neither the MAYOR nor the Councillors can set the budget without the other's approval. The meeting will be chaired by the COUNCIL MANAGER as the apolitical chief of operations. With a quasi-federal arrangement, there have to be checks and balances. The MAYOR and Councillors constitute the COUNCIL. Therefore it's logical that they concur on the budget. The budget process will be started by consultation with the public and statutory consultees at a TOWN ASSEMBLY level which will then inform the overall annual budget. The consultation with the public and statutory parties will be a major contributor to determining the budget but it is acknowledged that other factors, e.g. Government guidelines, will influence the figure. The overall budget will then be distributed to each ASSEMBLY according to the figure obtained. A referendum will be funded by the ASSEMBLY or ASSEMBLIES affected and by all the ASSEMBLIES in the case of it being borough-wide. Supposing more than one ASSEMBLY is affected, funding will be proportionate to the budget distributed to each ASSEMBLY.

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDING PRINCIPLES
1. Council governance to be accountable and transparent
2. Council to ensure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in discharge of all its functions
3. Council communications will be clear, direct, concise and accurate
4. Human Rights and Sustainability to be core objectives
5. Council to be proactive in encouraging public participation

Whilst these don't add much to the present obligations of Councils, it's important to manifest them to stress the direction in which the MAYOR is taking the COUNCIL and to alert the public to these obligations and thus of its rights in relation to the activities of the COUNCIL.