Before the meeting started I was not recording,
The town council may have been.
If they were not you might miss the moment our deputy Mayor Cllr Adam Lowe and Cllr
Michael Haley were have a little joking session at the expense of Cllr Vince Howard.
Cllr Lowes amusement was based on perhaps Cllr Howard should have been
muslim, whilst Cllr Haley was about Cllr Howard batting for the other side.
It seems the council has fallen back into the dark days of when they enjoyed
similar racist and homophobic discussions on the former online Rutland Chat Forum.
Oakham Town Council's microphone is powerful so if it has picked up the
councillors pre meeting chat I am sure that is one part that will be cut.
Councillors questions:
The Mayor misused a piece of NALC guidance to avoid answering the questions
I submitted relating to information leaked to me about a secret investigation into
the incompetent handling of the council's accounts by the Clerk.
He used note 26 "The Need to Know" which is given to prevent councillors
from obtaining printed documents and information from the office if it
is felt it might be used improperly etc.
Of course just like the public a cllr can then resort to using the freedom
of information act if they felt they were being deliberately obstructed.
I have asked for my questions to be resubmitted at the next meeting.
The Clerk has said he needs to seek advice.
26. Councillors do not have a "need to know" all aspects of council
business and cannot claim and automatic right to see all council
documentation and information. In other words, councillor's are
not permitted a fishing expedition in respect of council documentation
and information simply because they are councillors, the following
may prove more helpful in establishing whether a councillor has a
need to know: ...........................
The guidance is for Clerks and continues to refer to documents.
What I would like to know is who is the council when you are a parish
council as small as Oakham Town Council.12 members, is the Council the
Clerk or the Mayor?
Because as an Oakham South East Councillor who is meant to represent the
residents of the ward, I don't know who the council is. The constant
exclusion from its activities and lack of knowledge of what it is doing
certainly makes me feel like an outsider.
Pension this was deferred hopefully to seek independent advice. and employment
legal advice.
Although this looks like this pension is an unavoidable additional cost for the council.
We learnt last night the Clerk has a contract of employment which states
he may join the Local Government Pension Scheme or take 6% extra pay instead
of joining the scheme, For the last 10 years plus he has taken the money and
does not have a pension. His choice.
Now the government has made it law for all employees to join a work place
pension scheme he has told the council it must let him join the Local Government
scheme and nothing else this will be the very costly and beneficial to him
We says we can not offer another scheme which might cost the
tax payers less. Currently it is looking like the scheme will cost the
tax payer 23% of the Clerks taxable pay.
We were provided with no break down of what was included if the council
is forced to contribute to the local government scheme we should ensure
that it is just for a pension and it is stripped of any added costly benefits
not put before us such as critical illness cover. They government only require
pension provision.
We also learnt the Clerk contract entitles him to a pay rise every year
he can be dishonest, misleading and incompetent and is rewarded annually
for that. After the meeting there was some discussion The Mayor Cllr Alf
Dewis said if he was on the council when the clerk was first employed
he would not have agreed the contract.
I believe the clerks contract is unreasonable and the council should
seek legal advice and get the tax payer out of this unacceptable trap
ASAP.
If a person takes a financial option instead of a pension surely it
is not right that they keep all that money if they now chose to opt in?
The tax payer has paid for the Clerk to make his own provision
he chose not to do this.
With other things that developed last night unfortunately I can see
a council tax bill rise coming very soon.
Development of strategic plan for the council, this has been passed to Micheal Haley
and Alf Dewis. to do something what I am not sure. Mr Dewis recently said
past attempts to implement a plan for the council had failed because it
was to complicated?? This I assume will be the end result of their working
group.
I thanked Mr Haley for undertaking something I had been asking for since
2010.
The Council decided to take a free tree and plant it at Royce's Playing Field
to commemorate the Battle of Agincourt. Cllr Howard asked what I did not
dare to ask and that was why the Cllr Lucas felt the need to commemorate
this battle when there had been so many since 600 years ago which had
stronger if any connection to Oakham or Rutland. He was then promptly
attacked by Cllr Stubbs who quipped something about the wonders of
Google Cllr Howard responded he was falling back on his education and
history classes. Cllr Stubbs is very unpleasant and spent most of the meeting
muttering referring to me "if he speaks again I am going home" I often wish
he would instead of keep threatening it. At one point in the meeting he stood
up to express his opinion almost suggest he was speaking for everyone
using the word "we" Cllr Stubbs does not believe council business should
be conducted openly in the chamber with members of the public present
it should be conducted in private and rubber stamped at meetings "its
how things are done down south" he repeatedly said referring to the days
not so long ago when he lived down south.
Oakham Town Council last night despite the months of work put into
the former gym decided not to move out of Victoria Hall.
The lease for Victoria Halls Offices has expired, no one has considered
whether the trustees will renew the lease and if they will want to increase
the already high rent.
We now pay rates to Rutland County Council for two premises
one may still house a community hall the other use unknown.
I think this was the first point of at the meeting our deputy Mayor
Cllr Adam Lowe swore. He is very frustrated I strongly believe
he was set up to fail on this project.
The Clerk told me he did not want to move and if the office had
to move the standard of work to make it suitable for him would
have to be very high, hence him only providing inflated cost from
McCombie Smith Architects.
Cllr Lowe suggested they should not be used if required
for any future plans for the property and quoted the costs
of their previous work it appears this had almost doubled.
Personally I would like to see the written quote to if there
is one or did the clerk make them up to make the project
seem unaffordable to those members who may have doubted
the proposed move?
After the majority of Cllrs voted not to proceed with the
move the council decided to name the building.
Although it has been decided that the building will be named
Oakham Town Council Community Centre no one decided
how this would be funded. It was originally going to be
funded by the money currently paid in rent and business
rate for using Victoria Hall which currently stands at
around £20,000 a year a considerable waste of money.
We are currently paying a business rate on the former gym.
The Council authorised expenditure for a official Christmas
light switch on when all the shops are closed. This was another
point in the meeting at which our deputy Mayor swore.
Frustrated yes because he has done what this daft council
asked him to do.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Oakham Mayor Answering Questions About Secret Investigation Into The Clerks Accounting Incompetence
Oakham Mayor Answering Questions About Secret Investigation Into The Clerk's Accounting Incompetence
The Mayor refused to fully answer my questions quoting LRAC guidance note 26
"need to know"
I asked the questions relating to what was described as a secret investigation
being conducted into the Clerk's incompetence. Via an anonymous text message.
The Clerk made mistakes with last year accounts I asked for them to be re-audited
this was turned down.
Perhaps the Mayor Cllr Alf Dewis believes there was dishonesty committed
when the Clerk accidently wrote of rent and arrears due from one of our former
tenants?
I don't think the NLAC guidance applies to my question in this case. I was not
asking to see documents just for the sake of seeing. I was asking about an
investigation into a serious issue.
The Clerk lied this evening when another financial matter was raised.
The Mayor lied about a payment he was responsible for he only told the
truth once the local press asked him.
With so many issues and concerns about the financial procedure at Oakham
Town Council I thought the Mayor would be more open and transparent.
What I find odd about the NALC guidance on the "need to know"
is the council's clerk an employee can decide whether a Cllr can see
or know anything.
Who decides what the Mayor can keep confidential Oakham Town
Council is fast becoming his dictatorship,
The rest of the meetings video will be published tomorrow
it was a total shambles. I do wish Cllr Stubbs would go home
instead of having to put up with his constant mumbling "if he
speaks again I am going home"
I think the meeting was awful and it must have been the worse
because even the Deputy Mayor swore at least three times.
The Mayor refused to fully answer my questions quoting LRAC guidance note 26
"need to know"
I asked the questions relating to what was described as a secret investigation
being conducted into the Clerk's incompetence. Via an anonymous text message.
The Clerk made mistakes with last year accounts I asked for them to be re-audited
this was turned down.
Perhaps the Mayor Cllr Alf Dewis believes there was dishonesty committed
when the Clerk accidently wrote of rent and arrears due from one of our former
tenants?
I don't think the NLAC guidance applies to my question in this case. I was not
asking to see documents just for the sake of seeing. I was asking about an
investigation into a serious issue.
The Clerk lied this evening when another financial matter was raised.
The Mayor lied about a payment he was responsible for he only told the
truth once the local press asked him.
With so many issues and concerns about the financial procedure at Oakham
Town Council I thought the Mayor would be more open and transparent.
What I find odd about the NALC guidance on the "need to know"
is the council's clerk an employee can decide whether a Cllr can see
or know anything.
Who decides what the Mayor can keep confidential Oakham Town
Council is fast becoming his dictatorship,
The rest of the meetings video will be published tomorrow
it was a total shambles. I do wish Cllr Stubbs would go home
instead of having to put up with his constant mumbling "if he
speaks again I am going home"
I think the meeting was awful and it must have been the worse
because even the Deputy Mayor swore at least three times.
After a discussion with Cllr Howard and Haley this evening I would like to
correct the above post, In the post I state Cllr Haley took a part in Cllr Lowes inappropriate jokes this is a mistake, in an attempt to make it very clear that Cllr Howard
was not involved I failed to point out Cllr Haley was not cracking jokes and just happened
to seated in an unfortunate position whilst Cllr Lowe was cracking his inappropriate
jokes. I do believe in a previous post I had made this much more clearer. I am sorry
if I have caused Cllr Haley any distress.
