Oakham Town Council

Dear Oakham Town Council


Yesterday I visited the office to speak to the Internal Auditor. It is my view this man is not independent of the council, I come to this conclusion because of answer given to me.

For example this man told me the Accounts do not have to be made up to the 31st March. He stated accounts can be completed by July or August despite me seeing the form from the Audit Commission stating very clearly accounts must be returned to them early June 2010

Once again the Town Clerk Richard White took the phone calling members to let them know a Councillor was in the office exercising his right to see the account and speak with the Auditor.

(Parish council accounts must be open to inspection by any member of the council at all reasonable times without payment. Obstruction of such inspection is punishable with a fine not exceeding level one on the standard scale)

(The accounts must be made up to the 31st March in year and must be prepared in compliance with the 2003 regulations.)

The Town Clerk has to work hard this week to comply with these regulations so he does not miss the deadline for returns next week.

So for this reason members should not accept the Chairman’s request to give the Clerk an extra month to complete his work.

Letter of grievance, I made many requests to see Richards Whites original letter I am still obstructed form seeing this document. They other evening I was handed a letter dated 18 May 2010. This date is much later than the original letter and was returned to the council for that reason. I would like to mention I read the first paragraph and glanced through the rest before returning it.

The first paragraph contains the first of many lies. After the publication of the letter in the Rutland Times, said to be written by Tim Humphrey the son of a former Cllr and friend of Mr White and other members. I received a phone call a very angry phone call from former Cllr Humphrey. After this call I visited Richard White and he did state a lot of families in Oakham had been very upset by the publication of the letter. Why does he need to lie about that? We now all know this letter was sent by Nick because of the bullying Tim Humphreys was supporting through hosting the Rutland Chat forum.

And his recent anger with Cllr Charles Haworth for making sexual advances towards him.

Mr White says I undermine him; this is not true I wish for him to earn his money like all the tax payers who work hard to contribute towards his high salary.

I don’t want to be shouted at for asking question.

Many members of the public have spoken to me since Wednesdays planning meeting.

They have used the word Farce, the Parish Council of the Vicar of Dibley to describe the Town Council.

It is my understanding letters are on their way to the Rutland Times.

Cllr Lucas opening address keep it short because we don’t want to be here to midnight was not appreciated and her suggestion the public could not ask questions was very inappropriate.

The bullying I am subjected to was made very clear to the public when Cllr Joyce Lucas said the public did not need to know a Councillor is restricted from visiting the office and receiving information.

Apart from the question is Cllr Joyce Lucas mentally ill? Members of the public have since asked if Cllr Joyce Lucas and Cllr Alf Dewis are my parents. As they both treated me like a child constantly attempting to silence me and telling me to shut up when I had valid points to make.

It was brought to my attention after the meeting a Standard Officer was observing the meeting. Now I know why Cllr Joyce Lucas was buttering the gentleman up.

If he is honest he will report back what a sham Oakham Town Council is, not what Cllr Joyce Lucas asks him to report next time she meets him at the Standards Committee of which laughingly she is a member. This is the biggest joke in local government self monitoring.

At later meeting it became clear the restriction Oakham Town Council places on me is obstructing my work as a councillor.

My email questions were lost and a simple request became a big issue at the parks and recreation committee. This won’t happen again because I will ignore the resolution. How does Cllr Alf Dewis expect to enforce his daft resolution, when clearly the Town Clerk has stated he has no problem with my presence.

Cllr Alf Dewis is a bully. This was obvious when he was sacked from RCC he is not a suitable man to chair the Staffing Committee if the Council wants to end up in court let him continue his good work. Remember we don’t have the money to pay out like RCC did.

At the last staffing committee meeting a member of the public pointed out to me a standing order was breached deputations from the public had been removed form the agenda.

Although the local government act does not allow members of the public to speak at any council meeting our standing orders allow this at all Town Council Meetings.

Also at Wednesdays planning meeting 3 former Councillors were present. One asked me if we have had any training? My reply is no. He was surprised none of the new councillors including myself, had not received even the basic training. Even more surprised to see Councillor with not training were now chairing meetings.

It does not surprise me bigoted people don’t think they know best and don’t need training even though this has been a serious cause for concern after external audits.

Sorry to hear the Town Clerk has gone of sick again today, I hope he is well to enjoy his holiday next week.

From

Martin Brookes