Oakham Town Council Staffing Committee Meeting 20th April 2016
I attended the staffing committee meeting this evening and watched and interrupted
when three members of the committee broke the law, led by the chairman
Cllr Adam Lowe.
Mayor Cllr Lowe made it very clear to us all before this meeting was held that the committee only
had one delegated power. To employee a temporary member of staff to cover the
absence of the clerk up to £5000 and the rest of the business would come to full council
for approval.
The committee agreed to employ a unqualified admin assistant paying
them up to, no more then £20 an hour. I do hope Cllr Lowe is not
going to employ anyone unqualified at a cost anywhere near this
figure.
They then approved an increase in the assistant clerk hours, this should come
to full council for approval.
They also approved expenditure to appoint Streets Accountants to produce
the end of year accounts.
This committee made up of Cllrs Lowe, Lucas and Stubbs have no legal
authority to make that decision on behalf of the council.
Cllr Lowe attempted to justify the expenditure and authorisation of the
appointment of Streets Accountants, by stating he had discussed this matter
with Cllrs Haley and Elliot who are both members of the finance working group,
They have no powers and can only make recommendations to the full council.
When I interrupted and Challenged the Chairman and Committee members
regarding their unlawful decision making, Cllr Lowe (Mayor) said I don't care if
I get into trouble, Cllr Lucas made a similar flippant comment.
The staffing committee then ackonwledged they had no powers by recommending
that the implementation of HR and Legal advice regarding the clerks absence
would need the approval of the full council next week.
If the Chairman appoints Streets Accountants to provide professional services to
produce our end of year accounts without the authority of the full council
and goes ahead based on this evenings unlawful resolution of the staffing committee,
then I will be objecting formally to that payment at the end of year external audit.
There is no standing order or financial regulation of the council which gives
the staffing committee or any individual councillor the power to appoint the
professional services of an accountant.
The Mayor Cllr Lowe has an opportunity to rectify this deliberate error,
by making this an agenda item for next weeks meeting. Where we can
all approve the appointment and expenditure.
For the last two weeks, I have been asking for this to be
included on the full councils agenda. So we did not have a repeat of
last year.
For some reason the Mayor decided not to exempt the Clerks absence item
and details of his absence and the date he is expected to recover and return
to work was made public. Odd when you consider we were all told not to make
these details public due to the clerks employment and privacy rights.
If the Clerk is reading this and watching the video I hope he notes
I was there as the Mayor Cllr kept reminding me, as a member of the
public and publish the video as a member of the public.
My Public Deputation
I am very disappointed with the chairman of this council and his decision
not to call a full council meeting, so that all 11 Councillors could discuss
the serious issue that is effecting this council
The local government act states all payments over £5000 must be approved
by full council, I asked the Clerk to present the made to a company for
this approval.
The Clerk broke the law and ignored my request that he complies with the
law.
I would like to know why the council has not suspended or dismissed the
Clerk for gross misconduct relating to his ignoring of the councils financial
regulations and the local government act,
When is the full council going to be the opportunity to discuss this serious
matter and make the relevant decisions?
I added at the end of my deputation the following
Could the Chairman of the council please explain why he thinks it is
acceptable to write to people suggesting I am nuts and prostitute?
I was reminded this evening that Oakham Town Council has created
a situation where members of the public can not ask its council questions
and Cllrs can only ask one question at a full council meeting.
Before The Meeting
The Mayor sent this email to All Cllrs refusing a request to call a full
council meeting.
In his email he points out the staffing committee has the power to spend
up to £5000 to appoint a locum. The staffing committee has no other powers
and must seek approval of all its recommendations from full council.
Current there are three members running the council Cllrs Lowe, Stubbs
and Lucas. Why are the new members remaining silent?
Dear ALL
I received a request to call an Extra Meeting of the Council for Thursday 21st.
The reasons were surrounding concern that the Staffing Committee do not have the power to appoint a Locum Clerk to assist Allison. As it incurs expenditure.
There was also a question raised over the Staffing Committee of three members not being quorum.
To continue my approach of full disclosure and transparency, which not only protects me as Chairman but you and the Council as a whole I am making ALL Councillors aware of my decision.
I had already received some information from Michael Haley, Michael Elliott and I had requested a copy of SO's to ensure mine were current.
The OTC have a policy that covers significant long term staff sickness that affects the running of the Council, this includes that the Chairman calls a Staffing Committee meeting, which I did, it is covered in
our SO's Number 30 - Delegation of Functions - Section C - Paragraphs (i) to (vi).
Basically the Staffing Committee can engage short term locum service's to overcome the effects of the
absence. The Committee can spend up to £5000.
Given that the end of year, with TAX returns, Accounts and an AGM are looming it is highly likely that the Committee will exercise the SO's, a full report will bought to full Council on April 27th.
Given that the extra meeting was to address what actually is in hand I shall not be calling an extra meeting.
If Councillors disagree with this decision please read SO Number 16 - Extraordinary Meetings -
Section a - c.
The second point was regarding quorum, SO Number 1 - Meetings - Section Y - No business may be transacted at a meeting unless at least one third of the whole number of members of the Council are present and in no case shall the quorum of a meeting be less than 3.
This SO is stated in the Local Council Administration Sect 7 MEETINGS AND PROCEDURE OF A LOCAL COUNCIL - Sub Section F COUNCIL QUORUM - Paragraph 7.8.
The Staffing Committee consists of three members.
This e-mail is not to find fault, I appreciate this open dialogue and Councillor's should raise concerns, I will not be giving such a full response in the future, this time I had a request for an extra meeting.
Regards
Adam Lowe
I attended the staffing committee meeting this evening and watched and interrupted
when three members of the committee broke the law, led by the chairman
Cllr Adam Lowe.
Mayor Cllr Lowe made it very clear to us all before this meeting was held that the committee only
had one delegated power. To employee a temporary member of staff to cover the
absence of the clerk up to £5000 and the rest of the business would come to full council
for approval.
The committee agreed to employ a unqualified admin assistant paying
them up to, no more then £20 an hour. I do hope Cllr Lowe is not
going to employ anyone unqualified at a cost anywhere near this
figure.
They then approved an increase in the assistant clerk hours, this should come
to full council for approval.
They also approved expenditure to appoint Streets Accountants to produce
the end of year accounts.
This committee made up of Cllrs Lowe, Lucas and Stubbs have no legal
authority to make that decision on behalf of the council.
Cllr Lowe attempted to justify the expenditure and authorisation of the
appointment of Streets Accountants, by stating he had discussed this matter
with Cllrs Haley and Elliot who are both members of the finance working group,
They have no powers and can only make recommendations to the full council.
When I interrupted and Challenged the Chairman and Committee members
regarding their unlawful decision making, Cllr Lowe (Mayor) said I don't care if
I get into trouble, Cllr Lucas made a similar flippant comment.
The staffing committee then ackonwledged they had no powers by recommending
that the implementation of HR and Legal advice regarding the clerks absence
would need the approval of the full council next week.
If the Chairman appoints Streets Accountants to provide professional services to
produce our end of year accounts without the authority of the full council
and goes ahead based on this evenings unlawful resolution of the staffing committee,
then I will be objecting formally to that payment at the end of year external audit.
There is no standing order or financial regulation of the council which gives
the staffing committee or any individual councillor the power to appoint the
professional services of an accountant.
The Mayor Cllr Lowe has an opportunity to rectify this deliberate error,
by making this an agenda item for next weeks meeting. Where we can
all approve the appointment and expenditure.
For the last two weeks, I have been asking for this to be
included on the full councils agenda. So we did not have a repeat of
last year.
For some reason the Mayor decided not to exempt the Clerks absence item
and details of his absence and the date he is expected to recover and return
to work was made public. Odd when you consider we were all told not to make
these details public due to the clerks employment and privacy rights.
If the Clerk is reading this and watching the video I hope he notes
I was there as the Mayor Cllr kept reminding me, as a member of the
public and publish the video as a member of the public.
My Public Deputation
I am very disappointed with the chairman of this council and his decision
not to call a full council meeting, so that all 11 Councillors could discuss
the serious issue that is effecting this council
The local government act states all payments over £5000 must be approved
by full council, I asked the Clerk to present the made to a company for
this approval.
The Clerk broke the law and ignored my request that he complies with the
law.
I would like to know why the council has not suspended or dismissed the
Clerk for gross misconduct relating to his ignoring of the councils financial
regulations and the local government act,
When is the full council going to be the opportunity to discuss this serious
matter and make the relevant decisions?
I added at the end of my deputation the following
Could the Chairman of the council please explain why he thinks it is
acceptable to write to people suggesting I am nuts and prostitute?
I was reminded this evening that Oakham Town Council has created
a situation where members of the public can not ask its council questions
and Cllrs can only ask one question at a full council meeting.
Before The Meeting
The Mayor sent this email to All Cllrs refusing a request to call a full
council meeting.
In his email he points out the staffing committee has the power to spend
up to £5000 to appoint a locum. The staffing committee has no other powers
and must seek approval of all its recommendations from full council.
Current there are three members running the council Cllrs Lowe, Stubbs
and Lucas. Why are the new members remaining silent?
Dear ALL
I received a request to call an Extra Meeting of the Council for Thursday 21st.
The reasons were surrounding concern that the Staffing Committee do not have the power to appoint a Locum Clerk to assist Allison. As it incurs expenditure.
There was also a question raised over the Staffing Committee of three members not being quorum.
To continue my approach of full disclosure and transparency, which not only protects me as Chairman but you and the Council as a whole I am making ALL Councillors aware of my decision.
I had already received some information from Michael Haley, Michael Elliott and I had requested a copy of SO's to ensure mine were current.
The OTC have a policy that covers significant long term staff sickness that affects the running of the Council, this includes that the Chairman calls a Staffing Committee meeting, which I did, it is covered in
our SO's Number 30 - Delegation of Functions - Section C - Paragraphs (i) to (vi).
Basically the Staffing Committee can engage short term locum service's to overcome the effects of the
absence. The Committee can spend up to £5000.
Given that the end of year, with TAX returns, Accounts and an AGM are looming it is highly likely that the Committee will exercise the SO's, a full report will bought to full Council on April 27th.
Given that the extra meeting was to address what actually is in hand I shall not be calling an extra meeting.
If Councillors disagree with this decision please read SO Number 16 - Extraordinary Meetings -
Section a - c.
The second point was regarding quorum, SO Number 1 - Meetings - Section Y - No business may be transacted at a meeting unless at least one third of the whole number of members of the Council are present and in no case shall the quorum of a meeting be less than 3.
This SO is stated in the Local Council Administration Sect 7 MEETINGS AND PROCEDURE OF A LOCAL COUNCIL - Sub Section F COUNCIL QUORUM - Paragraph 7.8.
The Staffing Committee consists of three members.
This e-mail is not to find fault, I appreciate this open dialogue and Councillor's should raise concerns, I will not be giving such a full response in the future, this time I had a request for an extra meeting.
Regards
Adam Lowe
