Since 2010 I have been telling Oakham Town Council its accounts are very poorly prepared
and presented they don't want to hear it.
Only this weekend a councillor agreed and suggested I ask this that the responsibility is taken away from the clerk in a nice simplistic way.
I can't agree with that, the Clerk is and the internal auditor were paid to do a job.
When I worked in places and sometimes something was wrong I was told so.
Not over a nice cup of tea and cake. The Clerk is not a volunteer.
The Mayor and Deputy don't seem to take accounting of taxpayers money seriously
and say mistakes like we are considering this evening at a special meeting are not
serious and a call for an audit is a waste of tax payers money.
All this to me point to the possibility the council has something to hide.
I have sent them the following which I hope I will get to read out at this evenings
meeting.
Dear All Oakham Town Council
Because some members recently have made it very obvious they don't want to hear me speak at meetings.
I find this a little of putting so I have taken the time to write down my response/comment to the agenda
item we will be considering at this evenings special meeting. I have retyped it here for you information:
"First I must point out to all members any criticism I raise concerning this report is not in any way to be taken as being critical of the report authors, who as we know worked within the constraints of the
constraints and restrictions. Once again I question why has our chairman made a unilateral decision
to give instructions to other members.
At the last meeting (10th June) I pointed out one of the errors relating to Body Power Fitness Ltd.
despite my comment being supported by two other councillors.
The clerk advised we were wrong and when we voted against the approval of accounts he could be
heard saying "I don't know why"
During the consideration Consideration Cllr Howard kindly pointed to a supporting document which
showed body power fitness Ltd owed £750. This evening we are asked to believe this company
that has benefited greatly from Oakham Taxpayers money in fact owes £2250 a considerable difference between the 2 figures this council has been asked to accept.
Body Power Fitness Ltd has now gone into liquidation so I doubt if this council will be able to recover the losses from those who have opened a new company.
Can I also ask why I was not made aware of the errors in income before Saturday's postal delivery?
No emails received about this matter referred to this matter they only referred to the error in
expenditure.
Moving on to the current situation on page 3
The reports says the councils external auditors Grant Thornton don't have a problem with us if
we amend or don't amend the statement of accounts this evening? This puzzles me?
On the same page we are asked to consider 2 points.
The first we can't consider because turning to page 4 we can see that someone has
already altered the statement lawfully signed by the chairman on the 10th June 2015
in this chamber.
I question the legality of the predetermined alteration of an official council document?
At this point I would like to request this council rejects the 2014 -2015 accounts.
Account which you accepted in good faith based on flawed advice and the possible
incompetence of those who prepared and audited the accounts.
I also request ignoring the comments made by the deputy chair to me.
It is not a waste of tax payers money and this is a serious issue.
I request the council calls in a external auditor to inspect and review and make recommendations
regarding the councils accounting processes.
We must all try to remember this is not our money and the taxpayers expect us to use it
wisely and account for all spending in the correct way and as councillors we recognise things
can go wrong and we should ensure nothing stops us from ensuring this does not happen again."
and presented they don't want to hear it.
Only this weekend a councillor agreed and suggested I ask this that the responsibility is taken away from the clerk in a nice simplistic way.
I can't agree with that, the Clerk is and the internal auditor were paid to do a job.
When I worked in places and sometimes something was wrong I was told so.
Not over a nice cup of tea and cake. The Clerk is not a volunteer.
The Mayor and Deputy don't seem to take accounting of taxpayers money seriously
and say mistakes like we are considering this evening at a special meeting are not
serious and a call for an audit is a waste of tax payers money.
All this to me point to the possibility the council has something to hide.
I have sent them the following which I hope I will get to read out at this evenings
meeting.
Dear All Oakham Town Council
Because some members recently have made it very obvious they don't want to hear me speak at meetings.
I find this a little of putting so I have taken the time to write down my response/comment to the agenda
item we will be considering at this evenings special meeting. I have retyped it here for you information:
"First I must point out to all members any criticism I raise concerning this report is not in any way to be taken as being critical of the report authors, who as we know worked within the constraints of the
constraints and restrictions. Once again I question why has our chairman made a unilateral decision
to give instructions to other members.
At the last meeting (10th June) I pointed out one of the errors relating to Body Power Fitness Ltd.
despite my comment being supported by two other councillors.
The clerk advised we were wrong and when we voted against the approval of accounts he could be
heard saying "I don't know why"
During the consideration Consideration Cllr Howard kindly pointed to a supporting document which
showed body power fitness Ltd owed £750. This evening we are asked to believe this company
that has benefited greatly from Oakham Taxpayers money in fact owes £2250 a considerable difference between the 2 figures this council has been asked to accept.
Body Power Fitness Ltd has now gone into liquidation so I doubt if this council will be able to recover the losses from those who have opened a new company.
Can I also ask why I was not made aware of the errors in income before Saturday's postal delivery?
No emails received about this matter referred to this matter they only referred to the error in
expenditure.
Moving on to the current situation on page 3
The reports says the councils external auditors Grant Thornton don't have a problem with us if
we amend or don't amend the statement of accounts this evening? This puzzles me?
On the same page we are asked to consider 2 points.
The first we can't consider because turning to page 4 we can see that someone has
already altered the statement lawfully signed by the chairman on the 10th June 2015
in this chamber.
I question the legality of the predetermined alteration of an official council document?
At this point I would like to request this council rejects the 2014 -2015 accounts.
Account which you accepted in good faith based on flawed advice and the possible
incompetence of those who prepared and audited the accounts.
I also request ignoring the comments made by the deputy chair to me.
It is not a waste of tax payers money and this is a serious issue.
I request the council calls in a external auditor to inspect and review and make recommendations
regarding the councils accounting processes.
We must all try to remember this is not our money and the taxpayers expect us to use it
wisely and account for all spending in the correct way and as councillors we recognise things
can go wrong and we should ensure nothing stops us from ensuring this does not happen again."
