Oakham Town Council, Finance Committee Failing, Internal interim Audit Report.
The town council has surprisingly published it interim internal audit report with out any fuss this year. It clearly show that they are still failing, mainly due to the unlawful reserves the council collected.
Summer 2019 they were told to set up a proper reserves policy and according to the current internal audit report they still have not done this.
The persons responsible for this mess and the general poor way the council deals with its finances are the Clerk Allison Greaves, former Councillors and Mayors Alf Dewis who used to whisper instructions into Jane Woodcocks ear and forced the resignation of a Councillor who was an accountant after he persuaded him to lie for him and Michael Haley who created the fictional earmarked reserves and Cllr Adam Lowe the list is endless, even up to this date his actions cause concern. More recently it was his abuse of the councils Facebook page, which has resulted in a complaint from the leader of Rutland County Council of which Cllr Lowe is also a member and the removal of Deputy Mayor Cllr Sally Anne Wadsworth as a admin, a job she has enjoyed for many years. she now has her own page to continue informing residents, www.facebook.com/Cllr-Sally-Anne-Wadsworth-108109084684338 the office (the clerk) now responsible for that role and she has already messed up instead of removing the deputy Mayor as admin she just blocked her from seeing the page. Once again Adam Lowes actions spoil things for others. Lets hope unlike Adam Lowe the Clerk does not spend her time like Adam Lowe did deleting all the comments made by residents so other members of the council can actually start to learn about what the resident of Oakham think and want.
Over the years members of the council have been, misled into believing what they were told about reserves was correct. I often raised concerns about the Town Council collecting money from residents 'for a rainy day' as the Clerk put it to me once.
The law is very clear, a parish council can only collect money from residents for what they need. It can hold a small amount of reserves for capital projects. For example if the council wanted to replace play equipment it would be a council decision to do this and they would put in the budget for the following year if it urgent or a high cost they can borrow from the government as they have in the past. The many times I raised this issue I was fobbed off and attacked by those named above.
Eventually former Councillor Michael Haley sat down with a few and decided to invent fictional ear marked reserves, that was quite a random exercise. This could explain why the money has not been spent and not the all to common Covid excuse.
I am pleased Oakham Town Council has stopped using the sort of internal auditors they have used in the past, because in most cases the relationship between the council and them has often been unhealthy, Going back to the one before the last one the external auditors described the long term relationship as too close. I know Oakham Town Council is not the only bad parish council and the government is slowly making changes. I think it would be good if they made it easier for local government laws to be enforced.
It is totally unacceptable that this council can't even set up a reserves policy in a period of nearly 2 years, it is just another example of how this pointless costly organisation fails our town.
I am pleased to hear that this week the town council agreed to grant the community first responders £5,000 for new kit. I understand some members quibbled over the amount spent. They seem to have no issue when the Mayor spent nearly £1000 at Tesco last year on treats for paid NHS staff.
Oakham Town Council needs to admit they listened to idiots mentioned above and spend the reserves on projects that help our community and stop trying to hide the fact they have far too much of our money sitting and doing nothing under headings Michael Haley made up. Let actually have a proper reserves policy one that spends the money on projects and not one that just let the council stash away our money 'for a rainy day'
I expect Michael will once again complain about the truth, even after he has read the report below.
