Oakham Town Council Meeting 26th June 2019 Video Part One
Oakham Town Council Meeting 26th June 2019 Video Part Two
This meeting went quite well Adam Lowe was absent but not missed.
The Clerk had to get on with her job without his constant mutterings in her right ear.
At the meeting the end of year return and accounts were accepted even though the Clerk
admitted to council the £1000 loaned to Adam Lowe to donate to an out of hours club at his civic event was not shown in the total figure being submitted to the external auditor.
The loan was not authorised by full council and will be the subject of an objection at this years external audit.
The Clerk mislead the councillors at the last meeting by stating the money was paid back straight away.
Exercising the public right to inspect accounts, I found this statement was not true.
The cheque for £1000 was issued on the 7th March 2019 the money was taken from the councils
bank account on the 12th March 2019. The money was paid back into Oakham Town Councils on the 4th April 2019 almost two month later and in the next financial year, which will mess up the current financial accounts.
The cheque was signed by the Clerk and Cllr Dave Romney, He should have known the council had not authorised the payment.
The first the council knew about this payment was at the meeting of the 17th April 2019, I raised the question about the payment and the Mayors Allowance being over budget. The clerk then explained
the money was taken from the councils account because the money was not available in the Mayors
Charity account. at the last meeting the current councillors were told one has been of the signatories was out of the country. And Adam Lowe then Chairman needed to present the cheque at his civic event.
The Mayors Charity Account despite being named Oakham Town Council Mayors Charity Account and one which the town council appoints signatories each year is not subject to any audit or scrutiny.
The clerk says it is not a council account?
Know one knows how Cllr Lowe raised £1000 last year. It is suggested the money was donated by him from his own personal pay in April. I would suspect that could be correct because when I was a council member I was not aware of any fund raising events. The same question was raised the last time he was Mayor that time he would not name his charity at the town meeting or who had made a donation so he did not have to fund raise.The previous Mayor Michael Haley made no effort to raise a penny for charity during his term off office this has been the case for a number years now.
I am told Cllr Dave Romney the current Mayor will be charity fundraising this year, I hope he has many good event and is more open a transparent about his activities.
At the last meeting Cllr Alan Walters who has looked into this £1000 loan and its repayment assured the council members at the last meeting all the money had been paid back and added what happened was not ideal. I think what he should have said was it should not have happened.
The money Oakham Town Council hold is public money and it should not ignore its financial controls which are meant to protect that money.
