Gone are the days Oakham Town Coucillors Rubber Stamp what our chairman wants.
Cllr Alf Dewis wrote to us all complaining about the length of the last meeting.
All items should be fully debated.
It could be helped if we were given comprehensive reports to help us
consider items instead of having to keep digging for answers.
A fine example of this was when the chairman attempted to adopt the
GPOC.
When questioned at length no reason could be found to adopt the power.
When I asked the Chair for a reason he said the Clerk had explained. He
had not and just because other parish councils had adopted is not a reason
for OTC to adopt it.
The item was eventually deferred until the 10th June when Cllr Dewis
will be absent. We have not been provided with any reason or additional
information so I imagine the item will be discussed at length again.
As Councillors we have a duty to agree things or not after giving it
careful consideration we she should not be rushed.
I find it shocking Cllr Alf Dewis is threatening us with a 3 minute
rule hidden in the Town Councils Standing orders.
He tells us he will be absent on the 10th June.
As for the General Power of Competence I am told the item
may not appear on the agenda on the 10th a unilateral autocratic
approach from Cllr Dewis always willing to revise decisions
already made by the full council. I await the agenda.
Here is the email from Cllr Alf Dewis fwd by the Clerk
Dear Colleagues
Last night's meeting was exceptionally long at 2 1/2 hours, which is down to me. I would hope in future that councillors can be more concise in their presentations with statements shorter and to the point as we cannot continue with meetings of that length. I hope that councillors are able in future to better manage their delivery rather than the Chairman needing to put on a time restriction. In my absence, Adam will be taking the next Council on 10 June and I will ask him to monitor the situation. Should there be no substantial improvement then the Chairman will need to invoke Standing Order 6q, which restricts presentations to 3 minutes. This is something I do not wish to do but hope you appreciate my concern on this matter.
Regards
Alf