MAY I offer comment on the role of the mayor of West Devon on which questions have been asked in your columns recently?
Every mayor has two jobs. One is to be chairman of the periodic meeting of the borough council which settle policy on key matters and review the work of their committees.
The second job is to represent the whole council and everyone in the borough in public to the outside world.
Now, the chairman of a big meeting must always be above the debate and completely impartial between the different views debate and completely impartial between the different views expressed. For that reason, he or she must express no personal view either before or during the council discussion. To take sides would immediately be to lose confidence of the debaters and to prejudice the outcome of the debate.
The mayor sometimes has to give a casting vote when councillors vote are equal; even then he or she must not vote according to personal preference, but must vote in the best interests of the borough as a whole; and this generally means voting so as to leave the matter open for more consideration later on.
The mayors image of impartiality is even more important in public. When the borough council has decided on a firm policy on a topic, the mayor must reflect that policy in all public statements, regardless of his or her personal opinion.
Where the council has expressed no settled policy, the mayor must keep silent. It goes without saying that he or she must never, never use this honourable position in a party political interest.
One of your correspondents asked who was right and wrong in voting on a recent committee debate.
For all the reasons I have given, Cllr Mrs Govier was absolutely right to abstain on the committee decision about one of the councils key policies, regardless of what she thought about it personally.
Dick Eberlie
Vigo Mews
Tavistock