The appointment of Cllr Jean Denyer to the position of deputy mayor of Oakham is unlawful because of the councils own standing order breach.
Jean resigned in at the end of April and the co-option procedure was not followed when she was re-co-opted back onto the council a week later.
e. The election of the Chairman who will also be Town Mayor and the Vice Chairman of the Council who will also be the Deputy Town Mayor shall be the first business completed at the Annual Meeting of the Council.A Councillor should have served at least 2 years’ continuous service on theCouncil before being considered as Chairman or Vice Chairman and should have completed Chairman training or attended with 6 months.
Every Mayor meddles with the town councils standing orders and for some odd reason members follow like sheep and accept their changes.
Oakham Town Council once again proves how dumb it is by adopting the above standing order.
It was created by Cllr Dave Romney, very daft, how does he expect any new members to have had chairman training within the past six months before being appointed.
I believe this standing order is unlawful because the local government act places no restrictions on who can or can not be appointed chairman or deputy.
If it was not serious this could be quite amusing, imagine what is going to happen after the next local elections when no member can be appointed Chairman or Deputy because they are all newly elected.
Well done David Romney and the members who foolishly adopted the standing orders last year.
Oakham Town Council thinks it can over rule the local government act and there is one very clear rule that standing orders can not over rule the local government act. The local government act states any many can be appointed chair or deputy.
The positions are not subject to any restrictions and should not treated as a reward for long service.
I have written to Oakham Town Council I doubt if the incompetent dishonest clerk will respond.
Dear Oakham Town Council,
Please can you explain why you have breached your standing orders?
e. The election of the Chairman who will also be Town Mayor and the Vice Chairman of the Council who will also be the Deputy Town Mayor shall be thefirst business completed at the Annual Meeting of the Council.A Councillor should have served at least 2 years’ continuous service on theCouncil before being considered as Chairman or Vice Chairman and should have completed Chairman training or attended with 6 months.
Although I believe this standing order created by Dave Romney to block new members from becoming chairman is unlawful. Because it has been foolishly approved by members of the town council it makes last night's appointment of Cllr Jean Denyer as deputy mayor unlawful.
It is a standing order that really makes the council look very stupid. This why.
At the next local elections all councillors are no longer councillors, at the point of the election. After the election the town council could have full set of newly elected members and previous members, who also sign new acceptance papers meaning none of them could become the chairman or deputy.
The only member who could lawfully become chairman is the outgoing one because they remain in office until after the AGM even if they are not re-elected.
Why is it so many unqualified mayors meddle with the legal standing orders of the council and why do members accept these daft changes?
At the next meeting the council should recognise its error and change the standing order back to the original order, that I believe is found in the local government act that states any member can be elected chair or deputy.
Cllr Jean Deyner who for some reason or another has never wanted to be a Councillor should step down from the council.
