Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947

Convener and Vice-Convener of County.

14 Convener and vice-convener of county.

(1) The chairman of a county council, who shall be called the convener of the county, shall be elected by the county council from among the county councillors.

(2) The term of office of the convener of the county shall be from the day of his election as provided in the next succeeding subsection until the second Tuesday of November in the third year after the day of his election.

(3) The election of the convener of the county shall be the first business transacted at the first meeting of the county council held after the election of county councillors, and at that meeting until the convener is elected the returning officer at the election and failing him such councillor as may be selected by the meeting shall preside.

(4) The convener of the county shall, by virtue of his office unless disqualified by any Act, be a justice of the peace for the county, but before acting as such justice he shall take the oaths required by law to be taken by a justice of the peace for the county, unless he is at the date on which he is elected convener a justice of the peace for the county and has taken such oaths or unless the provisions of the Ex-officio Justices of the [61 & 62 Vict. c. 20.] Peace (Scotland) Act, 1898, apply in his case.

(5) Every county council shall at the first meeting of the council held after the election of county councillors elect a county councillor to be vice-convener of the county who shall hold office until the expiration of the term of office of the convener and, subject to any standing orders made from time to time by the council, anything authorised or required to be done by, to or before the convener may, in the absence of the convener or in the event of his being unable to act for any reason or of a vacancy in the office of convener, be done by, to or before the vice-convener, except that he shall not, by virtue of being vice-convener, act as a justice of the peace.

(6) A person holding the office of convener or vice-convener may at any time resign that office by a notice in writing signed by him and delivered to the county clerk and the resignation shall take effect upon the expiration of three weeks after the date of delivery of the notice or upon such earlier date, if any, as may be stated in the notice as the date on which the resignation is to take effect.

(7) A person holding the office .of convener or vice-convener shall cease to hold that office upon ceasing to be a county councillor.

(8) A casual vacancy in the office of convener or vice-convener of the county, whether caused by death or resignation from the office or by the holder of the office ceasing to be a county councillor, shall be filled as soon as practicable by the county council at a meeting of the council the notice of which specifies the filling of the vacancy as an item of business, and the person appointed to fill the vacancy shall hold office only so long as the convener or vice-convener in whose place he was appointed would have held office.