On Proclamation Day, can both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor wear their chain (with a black ribbon), or should it just be the Mayor?
THe purists will say that if the Mayor is present the Deputy does not exist! It is only when the Mayor cannot be somewhere that the Deputy comes into being to represent the Mayor. I always took a more relaxed approach and said that if the Mayor wanted the Deputy alongside that was fine and as the public wanted to see a bit of ceremonial, two chains were better than one. What I found was that confident Mayors did not feel threatened by having around them someone who looked very much like a Mayor. Others wanted to be the undoubted centre of attention and kept their deputies very much in a corner!