Code of Conduct

At the General Meeting on Monday, July 6th at 7.00 pm in the Letherhead Institute, the Committee will present the following 'Code of Conduct' for adoption by members:

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Conduct of meetings

Members of  the Association should follow the guidance of the Chair in the conduct of the meeting.

Members must be courteous to each other at all times and allow each other to speak.

Members must remember that the purpose of the meeting is to benefit residents generally and not specific individuals.

Conduct of the Committee

Members shall not bring the Association into disrepute.

Members should not speak or write on behalf of the Association without the prior agreement of the Committee.  Any correspondence sent on behalf of the Association should be made available to all members of the Committee before it is sent.

Members shall at all times work within the rules laid down in the Constitution.

Members should observe collective responsibility for Committee decisions.

A member who telephones, mails or otherwise contacts the County Council, District Council or any other body as a private individual should make no reference in such correspondence to his or her being a member of the Committee of the Leatherhead Residents’ Association. 

Conflicts of Interest

Members shall disclose any interest, whether personal or on behalf of any group they represent, that they consider could affect or influence their approach to the matter under discussion.

Political Affiliation

Committee members may not represent a political party in their role as a Committee Member.

Confidentiality

Members should respect all individual residents’ confidentiality.  Information about individual residents will not be discussed at public meetings.

Breach of the Code of Conduct

If any member attending a meeting does not abide by the code of conduct,  they  will be warned by the Chair that if they break the code again they may be asked to leave the meeting.

The Chair may give the person concerned a further warning ( a maximum of two warnings in any one meeting and /or two consecutive meetings ).

If the person continues to ignore these Rules and refuses to leave the meeting after being warned by the Chair then the Chair has the power to close the meeting. 

A complaint that a Committee member has failed to abide by the Code of Conduct despite receiving two warnings, or has committed an act that is considered to be gross misconduct, should be tabled at a Committee meeting called for this purpose only. All parties must be notified in writing in advance and care must be taken to ensure that all concerned parties are given a fair hearing.  On the findings of this hearing, the Committee can suspend a member  subject to ratification of the next General Meeting. If the General Meeting does ratify the suspension then the member is excluded from applying for a committee position for one year.

Committee members who fail to attend three consecutive General or Committee meetings without a written apology or good reason will automatically be removed as a member of the Committee.