Agenda and minutes

It was proposed and seconded that Mrs P. Posnett MBE CC be appointed Chairman.  There were no other nominations.

Mrs P. Posnett CC in the Chair

The minutes of the meeting held on 5^th December 2024 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

No declarations were made.

The public are likely to be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972:

-         Report of the Deputy Monitoring Officer - Complaint under the Members’ Code of Conduct against an elected Member of the County Council.

It was moved by the Chairman, seconded and carried:

“That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 10 of Part I of Schedule 12(a) of the Local Government Act 1972.”

The Panel considered an exempt report of the Monitoring Officer regarding the outcome of an investigation undertaken by her in respect of a complaint made about the conduct of an elected member.  The report indicated that the investigation had found there had been no breach of the Code of Conduct and set out the options available to the Panel under the Council’s Procedure for dealing with Member Conduct Complaints.  A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

The report was not for publication as it contained information relating to an individual.

The Member who was the subject of the complaint, with the permission of the Panel, attended as an observer during the presentation of the Monitoring Officers report then left the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Mr Grimes, the independent person, to the meeting whose views had been included within the investigation report.

RESOLVED:

(a)    That it be agreed that the investigation carried out by the Monitoring Officer was reasonable and covered all of the issues required;

(b)    That the Panel was satisfied by unanimous agreement that there had been no breach of the Code of Conduct and instructed the Monitoring Officer to write to the complainant to advise that the Member Conduct Panel found:

(i)               That there had been no breach of the Code of Conduct;

(ii)              That the elected Member had been mistaken in describing a resident as having made a complaint;

(iii)            That the mistake had been a genuine error without political motivation and was not a vindictive act, and;

(iv)            That no further action would be taken on the complaint.

(c)     That the elected Member concerned be advised to contact the Monitoring Officer at the relevant district council if they were of the view that they were being subject to bullying by a member or officers of the Parish Council concerned.