Belfast City Council Policy and Resources Committee Minutes 25 February 2005

From Nigov

B3447

Policy and Resources Committee

Friday, 25th February, 2005

SPECIAL MEETING OF POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Members present: Councillor Hartley (Chairman); the High Sheriff (Councillor D. Browne); and Councillors M. Browne, Crozier, Hanna, Lavery, McCann, C. McGimpsey, Template:Bcc0405-O’Reilly, Rodgers and E. Smyth.

In attendance:

• Mr. L. Steele, Head of Committee and Members’ Services;
• Mr. R. Boyd, Members’ Support Officer; and
• Mr. J. Hanna, Senior Committee Administrator.

(The Deputy Chairman, Councillor E. Smyth, in the Chair.)

Electronic Voting Programme

The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 23rd April, it had agreed to receive from representatives of the deBorda Institute a presentation in relation to the use of an electric voting programme entitled “Decision-Maker”.

It was reported that Messrs. P. Emerson and R. Mullen, deBorda Institute, together with Mr. R. McCaffrey, Electoral Commission, and Mr. G. McConnell, Review of Public Administration Team, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Deputy Chairman.

Mr. Emerson advised the Members that the Programme which had been developed by the Institute was capable of applying eight different methods of voting analysis in a multiple-choice system. These voting systems ranged from single majority voting through to the preferendum system which had been developed by the deBorda Institute. He explained that the deBorda system was a method whereby the voters expressed their preferences in numerical order for a number of different options. A points score was then applied to each of the preferences to obtain a consensual decision.

Mr. Emerson provided examples of how the different systems could be applied to the voting process. He suggested that the deBorda preferendum system would assist the Council in achieving a consensus in voting-related issues.

The Deputy Chairman thanked the deputation for attending and they retired from the meeting.

After discussion, the Committee noted the information which had been provided and agreed that no amendment be made to the current system of voting in use within the Council’s decision-making arrangements.

Submission of Minutes

Resolved – That, in accordance with Standing Order 12, the foregoing minutes be submitted to the Council for adoption at its meeting on 1st March.

Chairman