Letter from Mayor
Voice Mail from the Mayor Adam Lowe. (my calls may be recorded and used in evidence? so it's fine for him to record but not for me?)
Cllr Lowe has decided to conduct his own investigation. Although a parish council can not lawfully investigate the conduct of any member. Alleged matters of conduct should be reported to the monitoring office and it is for them to decide if a complaint should be investigated.
Cllr Lowe telephoned and wrote to me about two complaints the first being connected to this blog post.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Oakham Town Council Assistant Clerk Allison Greaves we are all guilty of making the Council look dysfunctional
Yesterday Oakham Mayor Cllr Lowe forwarded me an email from our assistant Clerk
I strongly believe this was a deliberate act.
I popped to the council about another matter this morning and after yesterdays incident
with the locum clerk I switched on my camera for protection.
I was pleased to hear Allison had told the Mayor Adam Lowe what happened was not
my fault but the fault of the locum clerk. Although I don't blame him entirely I know
he is only acting upon the instructions of the idiotic people who think they lead this council
it is a shame Malcolm Plumb has decided not to remain impartial and support Adam Lowe and Co.
When I arrived Allison was on the phone and preparing a email to send to me shown below
She read what she was sending to me show in video.
I fully agree with her the council is dysfunctional, I don't agree that she is responsible for that.
The responsibility for that belongs to the old guard now led by Cllr Adam Lowe who is a nasty
bully and it is not all members of the council.
Cllr Lowe has since responded to Allison's email and also talks about drawing a line.
How many more lines can he draw?
Some one commented to me today "Oakham Town Council must has have very straight
ruler all the lines they keep drawing.
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 11:39 AM
From: "Allison Greaves"
To: "'Martin Brookes'"
Subject: RE: Remembrance Service
Hi Martin
I’m sure Adam forwarded it on in error. However, albeit I may have offended you, I do feel at times that we are all guilty of making the Council look dysfunctional and I hope that we can draw a line under the whole episode and try to continue our work in a more positive frame of mind.
Allison
Cllr Lowe states:
A complaint has been made of harassment from the Assistant Clerk, the brief detail is that
you recorded and videoed her without he knowledge and then posted the recording on a social media site, when you were asked to remove it you refused.
It does not surprise me Cllr Lowe no longer works for Leicestershire Police.
He has no understanding of the definitions of the law. This is not harassment yes Allison
is annoyed I have published the video and her email. The council and her should have been more professional. In the video the Allison admits she did wrong. Although it could be considered that her response to me is unprofessional nothing she has said is untrue.
Oakham Town Council is dysfunctional and has been for many years the last time
it was publicly reported was in 2009 by Rutland County Council
The CPS definition of harassment clearly show this can not be applied to this matter.
Harassment
In this legal guidance, the term harassment is used to cover the 'causing alarm or distress' offences under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as amended (PHA), and 'putting people in fear of violence' offences under section 4 of the PHA. The term can also include harassment by two or more defendants against an individual or harassment against more than one victim.
Although harassment is not specifically defined in section 7(2) of the PHA, it can include repeated attempts to impose unwanted communications and contact upon a victim in a manner that could be expected to cause distress or fear in any reasonable person.
The definition of harassment was considered in Plavelil v Director of Public Prosecutions [2014] EWHC 736 (Admin), in which it was held that the repeated making of false and malicious assertions against a doctor in connection with an investigation by the GMC could amount to a course of harassment. The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that malicious allegations could not be oppressive if they could easily be rebutted.
A prosecution under section 2 or 4 requires proof of harassment. In addition, there must be evidence to prove the conduct was targeted at an individual, was calculated to alarm or cause him/her distress, and was oppressive and unreasonable.
Closely connected groups may also be subjected to 'collective' harassment. The primary intention of this type of harassment is not generally directed at an individual but rather at members of a group. This could include: members of the same family; residents of a particular neighbourhood; groups of a specific identity including ethnicity or sexuality, for example, the racial harassment of the users of a specific ethnic community centre; harassment of a group of disabled people; harassment of gay clubs; or of those engaged in a specific trade or profession.
Harassment of an individual can also occur when a person is harassing others connected with the individual, knowing that this behaviour will affect their victim as well as the other people that the person appears to be targeting their actions towards. This is known as 'stalking by proxy'. Family members, friends and employees of the victim may be subjected to this.
The second complaint from the Locum Clerk Malcolm Plumb relates to this blog post:
Monday, July 25, 2016
Oakham Town Council interim Clerk Malcolm Plumb
This morning I had an interesting conversation with our interim Clerk
It did not go to well.
He tells me that Rutland County Councils Monitoring Officer Debbie Mogg did not say in her report "Oakham Town Council as whole has not worked well " and neither did the report state I reacted to members and two members don't make a right. I suggested he has not read the reports.
He said I imagined it, great another person at Oakham Town Council that can not read.
Fortunately I can.
During our discussion I raised issue which is well documented but most members of Oakham
Town Council are not aware of. Malcolm has a typical trait of many people who work in
local governance, he finds it offensive that I ask questions based on what I read in the press.
He threatened me with the police.
After reading archive news reports, letters and a public interest reports about Awsworth parish council were Malcolm was once a Clerk until earlier this year. I can see why the old guard at Oakham Town Council were keen to employ him. It is my opinion he is not going to rock the boat and will do as they want him to do.
I quote one major concern I have found published by the Linolnshire Free Press on most of their sites.
"The £61,500 of VAT money was not lost through an “auditing error” – it was lost through the gross incompetence of the then clerk."
Malcolm said I am libeling him for asking a question about this.
I dare not ask him any questions about the following headlines.
Council not ‘cleared of wrongdoing’
Council told to work together better
I also asked why most of the minutes are missing from the website.
http://www.awsworthparishcouncil.co.uk/minutes/minutes-for-2012
Malcolm Plumb complaint is:
A complaint from the locum clerk, the brief detail is that you have posted, unfounded and
false allegations about the Clerk, as a result slandering him on a social media site.
I simply state the facts about his conduct towards me on Monday and I refer to newspaper reports and press letters about his former parish council. I forgot to mention that the Assistant
Clerk told me and the Mayor that the conduct of the Clerk on Monday was wrong.
Cllr Lowe has requested I attend a meeting with him on Tuesday 2nd August at 6pm with a friend as chaperone. I will not be attending.
