Mylander - Issue 84

5 Chairman’s Report Well, we are now in a new Municipal Year and in the somewhat unusual situation where no elections have taken place. Myself, as Council Chairman, and Cllr Pete Hewitt, our Vice Chairman, have had our tenure extended by regulations until May 2021, as have the Committee Chairs and members. The Council is not holding physical meetings and the Council Office is still closed to the public. Instead we have moved online for our meetings. We have had two meetings of the Planning & Highways Committee and both the Community Engagement and Resource Policy & Strategy Committees have had one meeting each. We have also had our first meeting of the full Council. The latter was necessary as there are certain statutory matters that are required to be decided and approved, even though extensions were granted. I am pleased to say all the meetings have gone well and our Councillors are onboard with this technology. It should be stressed that our meetings are still accessible to the public and you are able to ask questions. Prior to each meeting our Clerk publishes the meeting agenda on our website www.mylandcommunitycouncil.gov.uk and on that agenda is a link to join the meeting. We suggest that if you have a question on anything on the agenda that you email our Clerk – [email protected] - a day or so before the meeting and this will ensure your question is taken and answered on the night. The Council mainly use Zoom for our meetings. If you download the free software, you may find it more beneficial to follow the meetings. Apart from Council meetings my colleagues and I have been involved in other video meetings for example, with Council Planning Officers and also the Chairs Forum for Colchester and Tendering. This latter meeting is particularly useful as we can compare notes and offer each other advice on best practice. Finally, the Annual Report of the Council for the year 2019/2020 is now published and can be linked to from our website. Please read it and if you have questions let us know. Stay safe! Cllr John Stewart Chairman of Myland Council