Oakham Carnival Accounts, Chairman Cllr Maureen Dodds, Oakham Town Council

Click Here to Read Blog Post Relating to this Post

OAKHAM CARNIVAL ACCOUNT 2010

Oakham Carnival, Oakham Town Council Finnally!

Oakham Carnival, Oakham Town Council Finally!

Oakham Carnival received most of of its funding from public money grants from Oakham Town Council.
Nothing wrong with that until "the big fight" happened  and the Carnival Committee disbanded. Leaving the Chairman Councillor Maureen Dodds holding onto the purse strings.

The current Mayor Cllr Lucas and former Cllrs Sharon Spencer and Lorna Gray. wanted to put on a event in Cutts Close for the Anniversary of The Royal British Legion. It was suggested unspent carnival funds could be returned to Oakham Town Council. There are rules stating grants must be spent within 12 months as it appeared public money granted by Oakham Town Council was unspent it was hoped that money would be returned. The council took no formal action and trusted Cllr Dodds would be happy to return the unspent funds. How wrong were they? Cllr Dodds does not like Cllr Lucas and decided to give the funds away, to her favourite charities. The event planned for the Royal British legion did not go ahead due to poor weather and was not moved to another date after ex Cllrs refused to work with Cllr Lucas due to her dictatorial manner.

Readers of my blog will know I have not lost sight of the public money Cllr Dodds gave away. I raised a complaint with the local police this was ignored and raised the matter with Rutland County Councils monitoring officer this was also ignored. I continued to raise the matter with Oakham Town Council and this was also ignored.

I recently copied one of my emails to an outside body and notified the Clerk and he has responded at long last!

All

At the request of Martin, I sent this to LRALC on Monday. The information sent to LRALC was a letter setting out what had happened as well as the accounts submitted by the Carnival committee when they requested funding for the 2011 event. This grant application was subsequently refused, the Carnival committee eventually folded and no event was held in 2011. However, the accounts for the 2010 event are important as they show what the money (OTC granted £2500 for the 2010 event) was actually spent on.

I received a call from the Acting County Secretary, Rosie McConachie, on Wednesday confirming she had received the documents

She also confirmed that she would be forwarding it to the National Association for their opinion.

Until that opinion is received there is not a lot more to say.

Richard White
Clerk to Oakham Town Council
01572 723627
E-mail: rwhite@oakhamtowncouncil.gov.uk

Reading this email I am assuming Cllr Dodds is saying the committee spent all the money received from OTC
If that is the case where did the large underspend come from? rules state the grants must be spent within the 12 months or returned to the Council and when this was raised at a meeting she appeared not to object and then went away and unilaterally gave the money away.

Cllr Dodds used the Rutland Times to let everyone know the Carnival Committee had decided to distribute funds to charities. As you can see from the content of the Clerks e-mail there was no committee it had folded after "the big fight" (Cllr Lorna Gray's description of event at a council meeting)

The law requires any Grants given by any Council should be spent for the benefit of its Parish in this case Oakham, Cllr Dodds distributed funds wider to include Rutland Charities.

I understand other funders gave money also for the benefit of Oakham residents. I am sure they are charitable people but I wonder if they would have contributed if they knew the money was going to end up being  given away to other causes by Cllr Dodds? Oakham Town Council I am sure would not have done so if it had known this was going to happen.

I think in future Oakham Town Council needs too think very carefully in how it distributes public money locally and how accountable these organisations are. The Carnival like so many local groups they fund don't have charitable status and and therefore makes them almost unaccountable.

At the last Council meeting Cllr Dodds was present when a working group for the Queens Jubilee Celebrations.

I have seen the Account the Clerk refers to it surprise me to see Committee Expences £199.94 when I am constantly told people like Cllr Dodds give there time for nothing and I am wrong to question them because they are charitable people!


Click here to view the Accounts


Click here to view Clerks Letter

Oakham Carnival Funds Public Money given away

Oakham Carnival Chairman Cllr Maureen Dodds, earlier this year gave away the carnival funds to various charities of her choice, instead of returning the money to Oakham Town Council.

Rules state grants can only be given for the use and benefit of residents in a parish in this case Oakham.
The grants must be spent within the 12 months or return to the authority who awarded the grant.

The town council was expecting the money to be returned without using a formal request so it could use the money to fund an event this year in Cutts Close.

Cllr Maureen Dodds obviously was not happy with this and went away and said she distributed the money to Oakham and Rutland Charities.

At the time I complained and as normal was ignored by the Town Council and Rutland County Council.

I have since made another request for the council to attempt to recover the lost funds, the Town Clerk has now agreed to seek advice from NALC

Oakham Carnival was disbanded after a huge argument amongst committee members. Cllr Dodds as the Chairman I believe made the wrong decision to wind up the committee's affairs on her own.

Cllr Maureen Dodds Oakham Town Council unlawfully gives away public money

Cllr Maureen Dodds Oakham Town Council unlawfully gives away public money.


Oakham Carnival is a registered charity and received grants, many thousands of pounds over the years from Oakham Town Council in the same way the Oakham Festival is given money to spend public as it pleases.

Last year a Oakham Town councillor joined the committee and had a huge argument with one of the male member and as a result the committee broke up and Oakham carnival is no more.

Cllr Maureen Dodds was left with a pile of cash. The Town Council was keen to see the money spent in the summer on a community event in Cutts Close. Every one was sure the money would be returned freely to the town council. There are rules they could have been applied but members felt this would not be required.

For example if a council awards a community grant money must be spent within  12 months or returned to the Council.

Cllr Dodds decided to close the charity incorrectly and most probably illegally, She says she has donated the cash to local charities.

As the money has been misappropriated I believe the council has a duty to recover the public money involved. Tax payer money is not collected to be given to various charities however good the cause.

Cllr Dodds shoudl have sort legal advice from the charity commissioners or better effort made to attract new committee members.

The Death of Oakham Carnival?

The Death of Oakham Carnival?

It was sad to hear at Oakham Town the carnival procession maybe no more!

I think there has been a rift amongst committee members as some have resigned.

The new committee asked Oakham Town Council for a grant of £2500.

They wanted to host a fun day only in Cutts Close.

Cllr Alf Dewis said the man from the committee gave a terrible presentation.

So Oakham Town Council refused the grant and said the should use up the reserves and have a last fun day.

I wonder how much the Everitt mob were invloved in the demise of the Carnival a sad loss for Oakham.

Oakham Carnival

Oakham Carnival & Fun Day

Oakham Carnival

&

Fun day

Today

If you not staying at home to watch

the football here are the details

 

Oakham Fun Day and Carnival

I was wondering who the other committee members are for the Oakham Fun Day and Carnival.

I was elected to represent the Council on this committee along with the Oakham Festival.

Stangely within hours of this election Joy Everitt and other members of the Oakham Festival were informed.

I am told this was not the case for the Oakham Carnival and Fun Day. Although the Chairman was present as a Cllr at our very good Town Council meeting.

The Clerk said he wrote to the Chairman to formally notify the committee, sadly she has had a accident so she would not have seen the letter.

I find it hard to believe the deputy chair or any other members did not know I was appointed and then make themselves known to me.

I was looking forward to assisting at the event. I will not be attending any event I am not welcome at.

For others the event takes place this Sunday in Cutts Close the Carnival will reflect one hundred years of Oakham.

Oakham Carnival and Fun Day

Oakham Carnival

&

Fun Day

27th June 2010

Oakham Town Council questions

Cllr questions for the meeting to be held on the 9th June 2010






1. Co-opting

As a member of this Council I would expect to have been consulted regarding the proposed Tuesday interviews.



I was not, why?







2. Payments list



The following grants were made during 2010



Oakham Carnival Grant £2500

Oakham Festival Grant £2500

Oakham in Bloom £3000



As a member of the public I sat and listened to the Clerk reporting the council it had been decided Oakham Town Council would no longer be considering grant applications from outside groups or charities.



But the council would still give grants to the above.



(a) It was my view this decision was taken outside any Council is this correct?



(b) If the decision was made to support only these organisations, why does the council still contribute to the Town Partnership?



(c) Please can the council let me know which meetings we approved these 3 payments?



(d) Could the council explain why they think it is appropriate to support only three organisations were members hold a considerable interests and not use public money to support any other public organisation?