Dear Mr Heap,
Thank you for your letter and report for Audit of accounts for the year ending March 2015
I read you have used your discretion not to take legal action in the high court, due to costs saving the
taxpayers a lot of money.
I now consider this a big mistake because of the recent conduct of our deputy Mayor Cllr Adam Lowe.
And by not taking any action some members of the council seem to lack an understanding of the
serious nature of the unlawful conduct that has been carried out at the council for a long time.
Cllr Alf Dewis resigned stating in the press he has let people down and he made a mistake.
Cllr Adam Lowe commented in the same article as deputy Mayor, he said he will miss Mr Dewis
who made a simple mistake.
Mr Dewis actions which you have highlighted were not a simple mistake and as you note
continued into this financial year. Mr Dewis did everything he could to cover this up and this
included bullying me for raising his unlawful conduct, I did this many times at meetings and
was lied to and unlawfully excluded.
I have decided I will be objecting to the unlawful contract signed on 17th April 2015 and the payments
made due to that unlawful contract with Personnel Advice and Solutions Limited. payments which you
are aware of.
I will also be objecting to a unlawful payment made to Plantscape Limited. in 2015, The Clerk paid
this sum around £4000 knowing there was no contract in place and refused to bring
the payment before the council for authorisation when I requested he did so. He lied
during a phone conversation about the payment, he had already paid it according
to the date on the payment list and that is the reason why it could not be brought to full council
When the payment list was approved at Council I objected to this payment and the Clerk made some poor excuse
which I have recorded. What I find very frustrating is most other members present approved this unlawful
payment.
At that time the Clerk did not have delegated powers to pay this invoice.
You refer to the contract with plantscape ltd this contract was awarded correctly in 2012 just for one year and was not
renewed until a few weeks ago. in 2014 a payment was as you pointed out approved by council correctly
I can not see how this can be correct when there was no contract in place and the Clerk was aware of this
when I asked him in 2015 why the contract was not re tendered after the agreed one year he responded I don't know.
I will also be objecting to the overspend for the freedom of entry organised by Cllr
Adam Lowe there is a minute giving an approved budget which was considerable
exceeded and the payment was made without the approval of the full council.
You mention failure of governance of the council for the period ending March 2015
I feel the has been a large failing this year.
When I have attempted to raise failings I have been ignored and attacked for doing so.
I attempted to raise a small issue about council spending at Christmas and this
video shows a common reaction of often encounter whilst attempting to carry out my
duties as a Cllr.
This video shows Cllr Lowes extreme reaction even before I had chance to ask my question
and this is common example of the old guards conduct
(Cllr Adam Lowe wrote to all members unlawfully canvasing this Easter Sunday
he wants to remain deputy Mayor for the sake of continuity and stability of the
council do we really want more of this?)
Since the resignation of the Mayor Cllr Alf Dewis I have been attacked by former
Cllrs and friends of Mr Dewis, Cllrs Adam Lowe, Joyce Lucas, Stan Stubbs in the public domain
Only this weekend a former Cllr, John Kennedy has set up a Facebook group called
Problems in Rutland and Martin Brookes
The Group description:
This Group has been set up to highlight the activities of a maverick Cllr. Martin Brookes
In posts created by a former Cllrs and Mayor, I am described as maverick and subversive
for engineering the down fall of Cllr Alf Dewis,
Unfortunately there is still a small element of people who see Oakham Town Council
as a private members club and see any councillor who does not agree with their
law breaking as a problem.
I would like to share with you of the comment from the Clerk made
in 2010 when I first became a Cllr. "Oakham Town Council is like a football club
you abide by our rules if you don't like it then go and UK laws don't apply to us"
The actions of our ex Mayor confirm what the Clerk said and a public call from another
former Mayor for empathy to be afforded to Mr Dewis shows that lack of concern
regarding the serious situation this council finds itself in.
Back in 2009 this council received a poor audit report from your firm.
Rutland County Council also produced a report stating the council was dysfunctional.
It is my opinion and the evidence of your qualified report shows little has changed
and has got worse since 2009.
Oakham Town Council attempt to cover this up by constantly lying and attempting to
discredit people like me, your own report concludes the failures of the council are far
more serious than what the council tried to lead you to believe.
That concerns me because as a member of this council I have no sight of the councils
responses to you. Surely all responses should have been approved by council and
not engineered behind closed doors by the Clerk and the disgraced ex Mayor Alf Dewis?
You also point out failings with our financial control and risk management at lot of
the council has blamed this on staff sickness, this is a poor excuse we have a deputy
Clerk and the absence of our Clerk was almost one year ago for a few weeks.
After you report was received by council, a very rushed risk assessment report
was put before council last week.
As a Cllr I am often ignored or members are instructed to ignore me as was the case
regarding a serious health and safety issue with the towns Christmas lights.
I was ignored by the Clerk when I raised concerns about the skatepark fortunately
a new member noticed and sorted that.
Only last week I made a simple request of the clerk and he refused and I persisted and
he said he will now include a small print out of the good councillors section for the
role of Chairman / Mayor. So all members are reminded that the role gives them no
more powers than any other member.
As the council is aware of the unlawful contract and payments made to Personnel
Advice Solutions and will soon be made aware of the other payments I will be objecting
to please can you advise us all on how we should proceed with accepting the statement
of accounts this year for 2015 - 2016.
Cllr Adam Lowe told me he was annoyed he was required to sign the first incorrect statement
for 2014 - 2015 "when people knew there were errors and mistakes" when considering the
missing rent due from one of our tenant and Mr Dewis's unlawful conduct I don't consider
mistake is appropriate I prefer the description fraudulent. Despite a council resolution made
nearly a year ago the council has not yet been to court to recover the money rent money
due which oddly vanished from the 2014 -2015 accounts.
If the old guard want to describe me as maverick and subversive for pointing out all
this poor and unlawful conduct shame on them.
From
Martin Brookes
