Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Oakham Town Council Accounts Objections 2015 - 2016

Oakham Town Council Accounts Objections 2015 - 2016



For the benefit of the resident who publishes I am washing the town council dirty washing in

public before unlawfulness has been proved, I would tend to disagree this is public money or Mrs Thatchers

description Taxpayers money so everything I share as a Cllr or a registered voter and taxpayer is to ensure openness

and transparency.



The recent qualified audit report explains no Councillor or even employee can incur

any expenditure without full authority of the councils full membership if they do it is unlawful



There are a few exceptional defined circumstances which permit a very limited amount of expenditure by employees if they discuss it with at least two Councillors first.



The following payments are unlawful because either a Councillor or employee incurred

the expenditure without complying with the council financial regulations or laws.



29th April 2015 Personnel Advice Solutions Ltd. £120

20th June 2015 Personnel Advice Solutions Ltd £120



When the council realised a individual Councillor had unlawfully entered the council

into a contract with Personnel Advice Solutions Ltd the matter was brought

before council and the contract was terminated. So far the council has not recovered

the £240 from the former member.



Back in 2012 the council agreed a one year contract with Plantscape Ltd and followed

the correct procedures. The bill was correctly paid in full in 2013. Despite the minutes

of the council clearly stating the contract was for one year only the contract was not

re tendered and in 2014 the amount billed to the council increased. The council approved

the 2014 payment apparently not aware there was no contract in place or authority from

council to use the Services of Plantscape Ltd.



In 2015 members of the council received a email from a member of staff seeking

consent to pay Plantscape Ltd a large sum of money because the invoice due date

was before the next meeting date. I questioned the members of staff authority to

pay they only had delegated power to pay up to £500 in cases of an emergency.

The law is very clear that all large payments must be approved by full council.



Last year Plantscape Ltd was paid two large sums of money with no contract

or authority from the council, this is unlawful.



15th July 2015 Plantscape Ltd £8688.90

16th September 2015 Plantscape Ltd £6960.00



December 2015 Oakham Town Council paid Oakham Town Partnership

without any consent or authority of the full council.



5th November 2015 Oakham Town Partnership £1000



The member of public who says I should wait for the unlawful payments to

be proved is wrong,  as a Councillor I can get easier access to the accounts

and ask questions I can see the required paper trail for auditing does not exist.

Members of the public only get a very limited time to visit or ask questions. It is

a councillors duty to fill the gap.

Since the departure of the Mayor there has been great improvement at the

council. All members are now permitted access to the council office if

it is part of their work as a Councillor. If a Councillor asks to see a file

or an invoice it no longer needs to be approved or rejected by the Mayor.



The disputed payments shown here are a sample or token  to keep costs

down. The finance working group are aware of my objections as a Cllr

They will be meeting with myself and the Clerk and will seek legal

advice to see how the issues will be be noted on this years accounts.

This is a huge change last year I was excluded and bullied by the Mayor

and old guard.



As a council we want to move forward in a good way, the council is to

be run by all members as the law requires not just the chairman and his

deputy.



The Council is aware as an elector that I will be objecting the payments

with the auditor.



I am not being maverick and subversive a very few people connected to

the council suggested recently, every elector has the right to object to

unlawful payments. I guess in my case it is easier to know what is unlawful

as a Councillor or as before last year a member of the public who attends

all meetings.



I and other members hope with the implementation of new accounting

software and other financial protections put in place for the 2016 - 2017

none of the past unlawful activity will be repeated.