symroe
commented
1 month ago This document says:
Having regard to the resolutions above and the aggravating factors relating to a previous Standards Committee decision, which led to Councillor Driscoll being suspended for one month on that occasion, which included a failure to make a declaration, Councillor Driscoll be suspended from being a Member of the Vale of Glamorgan Council for a period of three months.
So they are literally not a councillor for this time, according to this.
As well as vacant seats, councillors can be suspended from office for some time. In terms of elections, nothing happens as a result of suspension, but, in this case anyway, the councillor's email address isn't listed any more. I assume this means the councillor doesn't have access to case work, or council resource.
This is clearly something we should record, as there is public interest in knowing that, in effect, the area is down one councillor for the duration of the suspension.
We also need to keep the councillor in our database, rather than raising a
SkipCouncillorExceptionand ignoring it.