MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2006 COMMENCING AT 10.00 AM

Present :

Mr B Claxton (Chairman), Mr R Day Mr K Fagan, Mrs J Harding, Mr G Hibberd, Mr R Mew Mrs M J Miller, Mrs E Oulton, Mr D Russell, Mr M Southwell

Apologies :

Cllr M J Cunningham, Cllr H L Humby, Mr D L Watson

5. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2006 be confirmed and that the recommendations contained within the notes of 25 September 2006 be approved.

6. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations at this time.

7. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS

RESOLVED :

THAT under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting on the grounds that there was likely to be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as Amended) of the Act and in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

8. CONSIDERATION OF A LOCAL INVESTIGATION

The Committee considered a report prepared for the Monitoring Officer by Mark Heath, Monitoring Officer of Southampton City Council, into the complaint that had been made to the Standards Board for England stating that letters a Member had written to the local paper had brought Sandown Town Council into disrepute by unsubstantiated allegations and attempts to use Sandown Town Council to promote party politics. It was further alleged that the Member had harassed and put pressure on the Town Clerk.

The Committee gave careful and full consideration to the evidence presented, the findings and recommendations within the report. Generally the Committee were concerned that Sandown Town Council should have been found in that position and believed that it should work as a wake up call to all council’s in relation to the standard of ethical behaviour expected on the Island.

Having discussed the report prepared for the Monitoring Officer, and based on the evidence within that report it was :

RESOLVED :

(a) That the Committee agreed with the findings in the report that there had been no breach of the Code of Conduct for the following reasons :

(i) That the correspondence that was in the public domain was entirely within the permitted “rough & tumble” bounds of the world of local government and did not therefore amount to bringing the Authority into disrepute.

(ii) That whilst recognising that Councillor Blezzard was persistent and strident in the pursuit of the accuracy of the accounts and minutes of meetings, this was something that he was legitimately entitled to do and it did not amount to bullying or harassment of the Clerk.

(b) That the following recommendations were also made by the Standards Committee:

(i) There was clearly a breakdown in the relationship between Councillor Blezzard and the clerk and therefore the Monitoring Officer should seek the services of a professional mediation service to assist those two and that it may be appropriate to draw other members of the Town Council within that mediation.

(ii) There were fundamental differences of opinion as to the quality of the work produced by the clerk and therefore the Monitoring Officer should review the work of the clerk with a view to establishing, once and for all, whether or not the minutes were of adequate, expected professional quality, or not, and also consider issues such as the timeliness of the accounts, etc so as to resolve and then close this matter.

(iii) The clerk was new to the role of town clerk. She clearly had great experience and skills to bring to the office and to Sandown from her past experience as a councillor on the Isle of Wight Council (and her on-going role as a town councillor elsewhere on the Island). She accepted, and that was common ground, that her administrative skills did need development. Therefore a training and development plan for the clerk should be prepared with the Monitoring Officer, which should, as a minimum, address the administrative requirements and the role of the clerk.

(iv) Sandown Town Council had, for the first time, experience of town councillors in “Political” mode. That involved a significant cultural change for any parish or town council. Therefore the Monitoring Officer should also undertake some developmental work with Sandown Town Council with a view to enabling the town council to move forward in the direction that all members and the clerk clearly wished to achieve in that new context.

(v) That all Members of Sandown Town Council and the Clerk, undertake training not only on the Code of Conduct and General Principles but also on other aspects of members’ obligations such as the procedures for Council meetings and on chairing meetings.

(vi) Councillor Blezzard and indeed all the Members of the Town Council should think about the impression any Sandown Town Council related correspondence would have on others before sending it. It was also recommended that Councillor Blezzard and indeed all the Members of the Town Council should bear in mind that time spent by the clerk in dealing with their queries, concerns and correspondence was time which could not be spent on other matters, for example, pursuing quality status, an ambition of all members of Sandown Town Council. All members should also reflect upon their style and approach as to how they go about raising issues.

(vii) The Committee would also make a general point to remind members and officers of Sandown Town Council that their principal obligation is to work for the benefit of Sandown residents. Regardless of the merits of the current situation, the work of the council did seem to have become distracted. It was for that particular reason above all else that the above recommendations involving the positive engagement of the Monitoring Officer along the lines above had been made.

CHAIRMAN