Martin Brookes Oakham

I attempted to bring two positive items to council.

The acting clerk has sent me a email and I spoke with him on the phone.

He is misquoting our standing orders when he refers to 4b he is quoting 4h. possibly
a typo.

Unfortunately a few members of Oakham Town Council are hell bent on stopping
me doing anything people would expect a Cllr to do.

I followed instructions as requested.

The issue here is former Cllr Alf Dewis who meddled with our standing orders
or should I say messed them up. Standing order 4h means that no council business
can be considered by the Town Council if it has not been proposed by two members.
A rather daft standing order because that means that all council business conducted
over the last year or so has been unlawful.

I wrote the following to our Mayor Adam Lowe who has since written to the Clerk asking
him to review his decision not to permit my agenda items.

I question why this daft standing order has only just been applied when I ask to present agenda items
it has never been forced on any other member of the council.

Dear Adam,

May I start by wishing a happy 2017 and to those reading this.

I am disappointed with Acting Clerks response to my agenda item requests. His response to two is shown below.
One Item relating to filming procedure had been addressed in another email sent by you, before Christmas.

The acting Clerk is incorrect to suggest the council agreed to the content of the next meeting
there was a simple comment from you as we rushed through the budget item due to a prior engagement.
I accept that informally some may agreed that the meeting of the 11th January may be mainly budget related and
therefore I am happy to wait for the February meeting to present my agenda item relating to the accounts.

At the December meeting you did not permit my two budget proposals, which standing orders would have permitted.

The way the 2017 - 2018 budget has been handled is appalling. mainly the lack of consultation and the way it was rushed and "guessed"

I did not fight your decision not to accept my proposals because you gave very clear instructions at the same meeting and in emails
up to Christmas stating I others should produce agenda items if they wanted anything included in that budget.

I did this for the Citizens Advice and A Youth Worker Proposal according to your instructions and submitted both within the requested
deadline.

As you can see from the email, the acting clerking is not permitting my two agenda items due to
standing order no 4b (No motion will be debated or considered unless it has first been proposed and seconded).
This is quite daft as this standing order has no relevance to Cllrs presenting agenda items. The Acting clerk states over the
phone that is how he interprets the standing order. meant to control meetings as a rule that applies to Cllrs submitting
their agenda items.

If he had read my report he would find the report clearly points out the request is not coming from a Rutland
County Councillor. My very first email relating to the youth worker stated I approached the Rutland County Councillor
for assistance.

If the Clerk is to continue to insist this standing order means that all agenda items now need to be proposed and
seconded by two members before they can be considered by council, then that means all last years councils resolutions
are unlawful and if at the next meeting we are asked to consider planning applications then we should ignore them because the
agenda items have not been proposed or seconded by any members.

I have read NALC Guidance and any councillor is permitted to bring any lawful agenda item. There is also instruction about Cllrs right to bring agenda items. I pointed this out to the acting Clerk and suggested his stance could be legally challenged and he told me he looks forward to a legal challenge, at this point I became annoyed and hung up.

The acting Clerk is also suggesting the County Councillor is asking for a grant and suggests they should apply like others do.
The Town Council has not offered grants for some time, any one reading the report will see the County Councillor has not asked for a grant.

I am hoping my two agenda items will be included on the agenda for the meeting of the 11th January as requested.
I know a few members have publicly predetermined against me attempting to bring two positive items to council. I would hope the
remainder will give them careful consideration at the meeting.

From

Martin Brookes

Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 at 3:18 PM
From: "Malcolm Plumb"
To: "'Martin Brookes'"
Cc: "Adam Lowe" , 'mJHaley'
Subject: Agenda item, January 2017 Town Council meeting
Dear Cllr Brookes,

I have now returned to the office after the Xmas break and have reviewed my list of e mails particularly in regard to the agenda for the forthcoming meeting

You have requested two items for inclusion in the agenda, Youth provision for school years 7/9 and a review of the Councils policy relating to recording equipment at meetings

In respect of the first item, Councillors have agreed at the December 2016 meeting to the Chairman’s suggestion, that the agenda for the January meeting will comprise of the standard items only plus the final decision on the Town Councils budget/precept for 2017/18. In any event, I could not include your item on the agenda because it contravenes the Councils standing order no 4b (No motion will be debated or considered unless it has first been proposed and seconded). A Rutland County Councillor is not a Town Councillor and cannot therefore second a motion. If the County Council wishes to put in a request for a grant from the Town Council for this project, they will need to apply in their own name in the same way as other organisations make application.

If you still feel this request should be considered under the Budget item, and you have a “seconder” (Town Councillor), the meeting may be willing to consider the matter, subject, of course to any ruling by the Town Council Chairman.

So far as the second item is concerned, I will be arranging a meeting of the Policies and Procedures WG very shortly to carry out the annual review of all other policies. I am happy to suggest to the Group that this item is reviewed in accordance with your request.

Sincerely

Malcolm Plumb

Acting Town Clerk.