Some Good News From Oakham Town Council Mayor Returns some money inappropriately spent by Former Mayor Alf Dewis
After repeatedly raising this issue at council meetings when presented with the schedule of
payments, it seems the council has finally realised in one case that the Local Government Act
does apply to them.
I feel it is the role of a Cllr to point out when the council is not doing things properly
I know a few members can't accept this and find me infuriating. I won't give up looking after the taxpayers interests.
The precept can only be spent for the benefit of Oakham residents. It can not be spent
on charity tickets, raffle tickets or donations to charity interestingly the church is excluded
from this restriction. The Mayor can claim for a donation they place in a collection plate or bag if they attend a church service in their official capacity and that money is for the church and not a charity.
Former Mayor Alf Dewis constantly misinterpreted the empowerment act which the
council adopted. He often felt it gave the council the power to do anything it pleased.
The act does allow the council to do more than it could before, but
Mr Dewis and the Clerk forgot the line that states this act does not mean you can ignore
laws which forbid you from doing something.
Before a Council does anything it should check two things does the law permit them to do it?
or is there a law that forbids them from doing it?
If none of those two things can be found then the council looks at the situation, can anyone
else lawfully do it? if the answer is yes then the empowerment act can be used. The is currently no
need for Oakham Town Council to use this act, it was designed for parish councils that actually
play bigger a role in their community, for an example a parish council might like to open a village shop or pub, before the act they could not because the local goverment act did not permit them to do that although it did not say they could not they could not open the business because they had no powers to do so. What it does not do, is give councils permission to do as they please as believed
by Oakham Town Council, shockingly the council sent the clerk on the required training and he
forgot this important point. The revised addition of the Good Councillor Guide now gives a description of the act in a simple paragraph.
When Mr Dewis resigned he gave Charity Curry Tickets to Adam Lowe our current Mayor
These tickets were purchased unlawfully using taxpayers money.
Adam Lowe has decided to refund the council the cost of the tickets. £50. He did nothing wrong
and accepted the tickets in good faith and diecided to return the cost to ocuncil as soon as
he became aware that the taxpayers money had been spent on them.
Personally I don't think Adam should have returned the money he did not buy the tickets
the money should have been returned to council by Mr Dewis along with the many hundreds
of pounds he had previously unlawfully spent. We are unlikely to recover that money he spent,
so I guess the return of this money to council is a good start to help draw a line and move on.
After repeatedly raising this issue at council meetings when presented with the schedule of
payments, it seems the council has finally realised in one case that the Local Government Act
does apply to them.
I feel it is the role of a Cllr to point out when the council is not doing things properly
I know a few members can't accept this and find me infuriating. I won't give up looking after the taxpayers interests.
The precept can only be spent for the benefit of Oakham residents. It can not be spent
on charity tickets, raffle tickets or donations to charity interestingly the church is excluded
from this restriction. The Mayor can claim for a donation they place in a collection plate or bag if they attend a church service in their official capacity and that money is for the church and not a charity.
Former Mayor Alf Dewis constantly misinterpreted the empowerment act which the
council adopted. He often felt it gave the council the power to do anything it pleased.
The act does allow the council to do more than it could before, but
Mr Dewis and the Clerk forgot the line that states this act does not mean you can ignore
laws which forbid you from doing something.
Before a Council does anything it should check two things does the law permit them to do it?
or is there a law that forbids them from doing it?
If none of those two things can be found then the council looks at the situation, can anyone
else lawfully do it? if the answer is yes then the empowerment act can be used. The is currently no
need for Oakham Town Council to use this act, it was designed for parish councils that actually
play bigger a role in their community, for an example a parish council might like to open a village shop or pub, before the act they could not because the local goverment act did not permit them to do that although it did not say they could not they could not open the business because they had no powers to do so. What it does not do, is give councils permission to do as they please as believed
by Oakham Town Council, shockingly the council sent the clerk on the required training and he
forgot this important point. The revised addition of the Good Councillor Guide now gives a description of the act in a simple paragraph.
When Mr Dewis resigned he gave Charity Curry Tickets to Adam Lowe our current Mayor
These tickets were purchased unlawfully using taxpayers money.
Adam Lowe has decided to refund the council the cost of the tickets. £50. He did nothing wrong
and accepted the tickets in good faith and diecided to return the cost to ocuncil as soon as
he became aware that the taxpayers money had been spent on them.
Personally I don't think Adam should have returned the money he did not buy the tickets
the money should have been returned to council by Mr Dewis along with the many hundreds
of pounds he had previously unlawfully spent. We are unlikely to recover that money he spent,
so I guess the return of this money to council is a good start to help draw a line and move on.
