Oakham Town Council Meeting 15th May 2019 Report and Video
Oakham Town Councils Annual Meeting last night, was an interesting meeting.
The divide between new and old Councillors was as predicted.
What was not predicted by me, was the outgoing Mayors conduct. Cllr Adam
Lowe behaved appallingly. He attacked all the new members and at one point
in the meeting he left the meeting and took the clerk with him for a private
chat. The new Mayor Cllr Dave Romney, was asked to adjourn the meeting and
his lack of experience showed, as he refused to adjourn the meeting. Everyone
knows if you don't have a clerk present, you can not legally carry on with the
meeting. I hope this incident will be minuted.
Throughout the meeting the clerk can be seen consulting Cllr Adam Lowe, for
advice and not the chairman. Once again showing all, the unprofessional relationship
between Councillor and Clerk, something which many people have discussed.
Cllr Lowe also objected to members attempting to remove him as a signature on the
council accounts, claiming he can carry it over from the previous council term.
I wonder if Cllr Lowe was one of those who signed a cheque for over £1000
without approval of full council. A loan for his charity presentation.
Which has messed up the accounts.
The council refused to accept the monthly statement of accounts and asked for it
to be deferred, so the new finance working group can look at the accounts.
At the last meeting the council paid plumbing fees of over £600, which should have been paid
for by the tenants of the princess avenue dance studio, Cllr Lowe told the
Council they have been told they have to pay it next time, How and why does he think he
can make that unilateral decision? the lease says the tenant should pay now, why should the tax payer pay a private business bill?
These two issues along with the path contract are going to be raised with the external
auditor.
If Alf Dewis, had to resign for spending a few hundred pounds on legal fees without council
consent, then Adam Lowe should go for borrowing the £1000
without full council authority. The money the council hold is public money not Councillors
money and it should be handled correctly.
I also raised at public deputations, the issue of the bank balance, at the budget we were told there was around £100,000 in reserves, but currently the council hold a surplus of around £260,0000
They have received this years precept from Rutland County Council and the bank balance is now over £400,000 This can be seen on the council website.
The Clerk responded with the obvious, because we have not spent it yet. She also blamed the late
publication of the statement of accounts on the software package and something to do with the
end of year accounts. The council spent thousands on accounts software and it is never used properly.
Hopefully the new finance working group will get this sorted.
Cllr Ian Razzall asked the Clerk to ensure that all Councillors receive all documents for meetings, before the meeting. This is something I raised when I was a Councillor. It is a fact the law states if councillors don't receive all documents at least three days before the meeting then the agenda item
can not be considered. I guess it will take some time before the clerk can comply with that law.
It is very frustrating to be handed any report or document minutes before you consider a item.
It was good to hear the new councillors ask question in a processional manner, sadly the responses were often less than professional.
And how long does it take for the clerk to count 12 votes? which resulted in the appointment of
Dave Romney as Oakham Mayor and Chairman of the council Sally Anne Wadsworth was appointed
deputy.
Oakham Town Council Annual Meeting 15th May 2019 Part One
Oakham Town Council Annual Meeting 15th May 2019 Part Two
