Derry City and Strabane District Council Open Minutes of the Special Meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council held in the Council Chamber, Guildhall on Monday 10 February 2020 at 4.00 pm. ___________________________ Present:- Councillor M Boyle (Mayor) (in the Chair), Aldermen Bresland, Devenney, Guy, Kerrigan, McClintock, McCready, Ramsey and Warke, Councillors R Barr, Burke, Carr, Cooper, Dobbins, Donnelly, Duffy, Durkan, Farrell, Ferguson, Fleming, Gallagher, Harkin, Hunter, Jackson, Kelly, McCann, McCloskey, McGuire, McHugh, McKeever, McKinney, Mellon, Reilly and Tierney. In Attendance:- Chief Executive (Mr J Kelpie), Director of Business and Culture (Mr S Gillespie), Director of Health and Community (Mrs K McFarland), Lead Finance Officer (Mr A Dallas), Lead Legal Services Officer (Mr P Kingston), Lead Democratic Services and Improvement Officer (Ms E Cavanagh), Democratic Services Officer (Mrs S Maxwell) and Committee Services Assistant (Mr A Mullan). ______________________________ SC11/20 Notice and Summons for Meeting The Chief Executive read the Notice and Summons for the Meeting. SC12/20 Member Attendance and Apologies Apologies for absence were received from Alderman McKane and Councillors J Barr, Cusack and Logue. SC13/20 Declarations of Members’ Interests Aldermen Devenney, Guy, McClintock and Warke and Councillors Duffy, Tierney, McHugh, Fleming and Reilly declared an interest in relation to item 6 on the agenda, Final Rates Estimates Proposals 2020/21, as members of the Policing and Community Safety Partnership Committee. SC14/20 Suspension of Standing Orders Councillor Gallagher, called for a Suspension of Standing Orders to allow Council to discuss the recent request for a £126,000,000 bailout from Stormont for ongoing works at the Ulster University Belfast Campus. He stated that Council needed to provide leadership in the face of a continued lack of investment at Magee. Alderman McCready challenged the need to debate the issue at this particular meeting, given the fact that it had already been discussed at the recent GSP Committee meeting. Councillor Gallagher moved, seconded by Councillor Donnelly That Standing Orders be suspended to allow discussion over the recent request for a £126,000,000 bailout from Stormont for ongoing works at the Ulster University Belfast Campus. The outcome of the vote was unanimous. Councillor Gallagher stated that it had taken less than a month for Stormont to find £126,000,000 to bail out the Belfast campus. He said that the city of Derry had been let down by the government for over 50 years. He demanded to know what the Council was going to do about this development. Councillor Gallagher moved, Seconded by Councillor Donnelly That (i) Council demand to speak to representatives from the Department of Finance in relation to the situation regarding the £126,000,000 bailout of Ulster University’s Belfast Campus (ii) the Striking of the Rate be deferred until this has been investigated. Councillor McCann offered his support to Councillor Gallagher’s remarks. He stated that those in power in Belfast had little interest in acting on the lack of investment in Derry. Councillor Reilly added to the remarks of previous Councillor’s. He said that Magee had only seen a fraction of the money allocated to the Belfast and Jordanstown facilities and that this was hugely frustrating. He stated that an expanded Magee would be a great benefit to the city. Councillor Cooper affirmed that the University of Ulster had to account for themselves and explain their decision making process. He then asked for guidance as to the possible legal and financial implications of not striking the rate. The Chief Executive responded to Councillor Cooper stating that the deadline for striking the rate was 15 February 2020. He said that Council was legally required to do so. If Council failed to strike the rate, the Department for Finance could step in and take over the matter, potentially affecting Council’s financial position. Councillor Donnelly put on record his support for Councillor Gallagher’s proposal and stated that it was time to take a stand against discrimination. Alderman McCready questioned whether this issue warranted the decision to not strike the rate. He said it would be irresponsible of Council to fail to meet its statutory obligation and that not doing so would represent a failure to administer their duties to the public. Councillor Harkin stated that the issue was an affront for the people of Derry and Council needed to reflect the anger of the citizens. He emphasised the need for a greater understanding of the urgency from Ministers. Referring to the Council decision from item SC10/20 Draft Rates Estimate Proposals 2020/21 from the Special Council meeting held on 27 January 2020, Councillor Harkin noted that a Council delegation had agreed to travel to Stormont to take the issue to ministers. Supporting Councillor Gallagher’s proposal, he stated that Council should agree not to strike the rate during the current meeting and take the issue to Stormont.. The Chief Executive offered Members an update from the Department for Communities on the Rates Support Grant which had been received just before the beginning of the meeting. He advised that the Minister was available to meet the Chief Executives of the seven Councils in relation to the matter of the Rate Support Grant, on Wednesday 19 February at the Derry and Strabane Council Offices. Councillor Cooper stated that the response from the Department for Communities was welcome. In addition, he said that any suspension of the striking of the rate would damage Council financially and that Council should instead ask the Finance Minister to attend the proposed meeting, permitting both major issues to be discussed at the same time. Councillor Harkin expressed his disappointment in the response from the Department for Communities. He said that ministers knew the deadline for the striking of the rate and that Council’s corporate position must remain the same. Councillor Gallagher requested that the vote on the proposal be recorded. The outcome of the vote was as follows; For 12, Against 19, Abstain 2. The proposal on being put to vote was therefore declared lost. SC15/20 Chairperson’s Business Councillor Reilly put on record the SDLP’s condolences for the recent bereavement of former Councillor Jimmy Clifford following the death of his wife. He also extended condolences to Councillor Logue following the death of her sister-in-law. In addition, Councillor’s Duffy, Donnelly and Alderman McClintock added their party’s support to the condolences which were formally acknowledged by the Mayor. Alderman Devenney proposed, Seconded by Councillor Donnelly, to bring the meeting into Confidential Minutes. The Meeting then entered Confidential Business. SC19/20 Rates Estimate Summary 2020/21 The Mayor informed Members that the Rates Estimate Summary had been circulated previously for information. Members unanimously agreed and noted the content of the report. SC20/20 Mayoral Address The Mayor addressed the chamber with the following statement: Today, Derry City and Strabane District Council has agreed its budget for the incoming 2020/21 financial year. As Mayor, I want to record my thanks to Members and Officers for all their work in what has been a challenging rates process and confirm that Derry City and Strabane District Council has made and fixed a District rate of 30.3794p in the £ for Non-Domestic properties and of 0.5009p in the £ for Domestic properties for the year ending 31st March 2021. For an average domestic ratepayer in this Council area, this represents a District Rate increase of 3.37% and will see the current average domestic District rates bill of £468.82 increase by £15.80 per annum or 30p per week. On the basis of average property valuations being lower than in other Council areas, the average ratepayer in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area will continue to pay lower rates bills than average ratepayers in the majority of other Council areas. For business ratepayers, the results of “Reval 2020” have been incorporated in this year’s rate. As a result, non-domestic ratepayers whose property value has remained the same following this exercise will see their rates bills reduce by 2.24%. It is really important that a realistic rate is struck that sets Council on a sustainable footing to continue to provide the essential services our citizens require, whilst recognising the challenges our ratepayers face. Significant pressures have had to be absorbed. In particular, waste budgets have had to be increased to reflect significantly rising disposal costs and falling commodity values, regionally agreed pay awards have had to be absorbed and it is pleasing to report that this Council is one of the leading NI Councils in terms of progression of pay harmonisation following the amalgamation of legacy Councils with additional costs now fully budgeted for. Against this, there are again a number of very positive messages from this year’s rates process. Our efficiency programme has continued with a positive rates impact of 0.4% bringing total efficiencies realised since amalgamation of the legacy Councils, to almost £3.35m per annum. 775 new domestic properties have been built in our area over the last year and our non-domestic ratebase has continued to grow above the NI average. Building on the investment of the last couple of years in our ambitious capital plan, our community services provision, festivals and events and cultural venues, this is again a rates picture of growth and provision of new and enhanced services across the Council area. Council’s key priority this year will be to continue to work with all of our partners and Government departments to deliver on the objectives and targets of the now agreed Strategic Inclusive Growth Plan 2017-2030 which aims to make a thriving, prosperous and sustainable City and District with equality of opportunity for all.