4.35 As with all local authority meetings, every member of the Joint Committee (except co-opted non-voting members, if any) has an equal vote and decisions are taken by a majority of those members present and voting on the particular issue, with the Chairman having a second or casting vote.13 However, authorities should be cognisant of the comments elsewhere about dispute resolution and the mechanisms which can be employed to prevent the Joint Committee imposing a decision on a reluctant authority. It has to be an actual meeting, and cannot (under current legislation) be conducted over the telephone or on the internet (although consultation is underway on proposals to modernise this).14
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13 Local Government Act 1972 Sch.12 Part VI para.39.
14 Consultation by the Department of Communities and Local Government in its August 2008 White Paper "Communities in Control: Real People Real Power: Improving Local Accountability Chapter 4".