Oakham Town Council, #################, Town Clerk and Bribe

The following post has been edited, at the request of a named person and company. The previously named person and company claim the inclusion of their names is defamatory. This would suggest to me The Clerk who now says he was only joking has been slanderous.  After some negotiations, I have decided to remove the names. I find it strange I can not mention a firm that works for the Town Council, who are paid for by the tax payer. This decision is taken to save the public any further costs. I have personally told the person I had not intended to cause their firm any embarrassment and said sorry if this was the case.

I Read the letter ref: ###/ARS  I also have a sense of humour


Dear Oakham Town Council,

Oakham Town Council, ###############, Town Clerk and Bribe
All five members are aware I published my open letter relating the incident that happened at the last meeting of Oakham Town Council. At this meeting we all sat and listened to the Clerk as he advised us the Councils ####### is advising us and has provided three options the third being a Bribe.

At the time, I questioned this and the Clerk confirmed it was a bribe at no time did any other member of council question this. Cllr Dewis did ask if it was legal to use public money to pay a bribe, only after Clerk started talking money and mentioned £5,000 The Clerk said he would have to look into it.

After the ############# had read my email #### responded. I can not publish #### reply. She has requested ##### response remains private. I am not sure why? If I was the ########## I would want this matter dealt with in a very open manner.

Cllr Lucas the Mayor and Chairman has told members and the public this is very embarrassing for the Council.

She is taking action to remedy the situation, She is going to report me to professional standards because, I reported the use of the word bribe in an exempted item. In the words of Rutland County Council staff when they are threatened with legal action I say "bring it on" lets see how embarrassing this course of action will be for Oakham Town Council. Let us not forget the Deputy Leader of Rutland County Councils, favourite words "how much is this going to cost the public purse"

In my email I did not mention the exempt item, I don't accept her course of action is correct and strongly recommend she rethinks.

Who has caused the embarrassment?

Who takes home over £2,000 a month for this sort of advice?

Who apologised to #########?

Why are they not being disciplined if the advice they gave Councillors was incorrect.

As a Councillor it is my duty to protect public money and speak out when something appears to be wrong as is often the case with Oakham Town Council. You can not hide behind exempt item rules.

From

Martin Brookes

Town Clerk says "############## is suggesting Oakham Town Council Bribe a third party with the help from #############"

The following post has been edited, at the request of a named person and company. The previously named person and company claim the inclusion of their names is defamatory. This would suggest to me The Clerk who now says he was only joking has been slanderous.  After some negotiations, I have decided to remove the names. I find it strange I can not mention a firm that works for the Town Council, who are paid for by the tax payer. This decision is taken to save the public any further costs. I have personally told the person I had not intended to cause their firm any embarrassment and said sorry if this was the case.

Oakham Town Council has got its self into a mess regarding a exempt item. Because of the decision whether to exclude the Public and Press under the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings Act 1960 Section 1(2) I can not disclose the reason for this mess.

I sat through the item and feel it is in the public interest to disclose the following.


The Clerk handed members a confidential letter from ######## containing a number of options one of those options is the third option described by the Town Clerk as a bribe on more than one occasion. As a Councillor I am very uncomfortable with this and have wrote the following public letter:


Dear ###########,

Before last nights council meeting members were handed a letter of advice from ##########.

One paragraph suggested a course of action described as a third alternative, it suggested a third party could be approached without prejudice basis. The practical advantage of this approach could perhaps be discussed with ######## whose discussions with the third party would of course be on a without prejudice basis anyway.

This suggestion did not concern me until the matter was discussed at last nights meeting The Town Clerk Richard White said "this is a bribe", I suggested the word bribe might be the wrong word for him to use in this case and he may like to use another word, like compensation if that would be more appropriate? He responded "no its a bribe"  the suggestion you had advised the council take part in a illegal act was repeated on more than one occasion.

It dos not surprise me that Oakham Town Council is willing to discuss illegal activities such as bribes. I am very surprised a firm of solicitors would suggest such action. I read you have never dealt with this type of case before. Can I ask how much the council is paying your firm for this advice, a matter you  appear to have little experience of.

If the council is going to take the third option and consider the bribe as the Clerk described and use public money in this illegal manner I wish to publicly dissociate myself from this matter. The Clerk mentioned the sum of £5,000. No decision was made at last nights meeting.

As a Councillor I have a duty to the tax payer to protect their money, any suggestion of bribing makes me feel very uncomfortable especially when you consider the legal implications. I also feel I have to seek advice from the monitoring officer regarding my continued involvement in these discussions. This may be something my fellow ward Councillor may wish to consider because his involvement could be detrimental to his role at Leicestershire Constabulary.

Your sincerely


Martin Brookes




Cllr. Martin Brookes
Oakham Town Council