Follow me @LindaDerrick1
Facebook Linda Derrick for Ridgeway East
5 May 2024
I’ve now done three years of my time on Hughenden Parish Council. Only a year to go to my release. (Yes, I could resign but I seem to be unusually afflicted with something called a sense of public duty. So, I will stay to the bitter end.)
Only one more Annual Parish Meeting. I hope to see you there on Tuesday (Agenda-Annual-Parish-Meeting-7th-May-2024.pdf (hughenden-pc.gov.uk).
During the past three years, I have been polite, patient and professional. I have never made personal comments about individuals or questioned anyone’s motives. I have merely recorded what people and organisations have done and said, with little comment. I have rarely referred to people by name – but to the posts people hold.
In response, I have been shouted at, insulted and disrespected by many at HPC. I have received personal criticisms from councillors about my motives and intentions. I have received formal complaints from Bucks Council’s Monitoring Officer. (I don’t know how many because I haven’t read any correspondence from the Monitoring Officer since December 2022 when I concluded Bucks Council’s lack of competence, integrity and impartiality in processing the cases against me constituted an abuse of process.)
More importantly, my polite, patient and professional approach has failed dismally to ensure that HPC practices good governance, protects taxpayers’ money and complies with the law.
I have also failed dismally to get HPC to carry out the basic work which residents think important.
So, I have come to the conclusion that being polite, patient and professional simply doesn’t work at HPC.
So, I thought, for my last year, I would just have fun and not be quite so polite, patient and professional.
Here’s the latest.
Last October, the Chair of HPC, Councillor Stan Jones, agreed with a company, the Local Government Resources Centre (LGRC), to take on the services of a locum Clerk, Philip Truppin. He did this without the knowledge of Council.
At the end of October, Council was told that Mr Truppin had taken emergency temporary powers. He had removed internal financial controls and financial oversight by Council. These emergency temporary powers, taken without any authority, are still in place.
At the November meeting of Council, Council was asked to name Mr Truppin as HPC’s Proper Officer. Council was not provided with any information about Mr Truppin before the meeting so I asked at the meeting for Mr Truppin’s CV, including his experience and qualifications. Mr Truppin lost his temper, shouted at me and said it was none of my business.
Under HPC’s Code of Conduct, councillors are required to exercise their own independent judgement when taking decisions. The Clerk’s job description includes producing the information required for making effective decisions.
So, it clearly was my business to be informed about Mr Truppin’s previous experience and qualifications when taking the decision to name him as Proper Officer. And it was Mr Truppin’s responsibility to provide the information required for making that decision.
It would have been relevant for Council to know that Mr Truppin has, apparently, never been a parish clerk (although he has been a town clerk). And it would have been particularly relevant to know that Mr Truppin does not appear to have any qualifications as a parish clerk. LGRC committed to providing Council with qualified, experienced clerks and that is what Council is paying LGRC for.
However, I was the only councillor who asked for Mr Truppin’s CV. No-one else was interested ; I was just told to move on.
Over the past months, I have been increasingly concerned about Mr Truppin’s actions, including his failure to recognise and acknowledge potential conflicts of interest. I put these concerns privately, politely and professionally to the Chief Executive of LGRC on 15 March.
In response, LGRC complained about me to BC’s Monitoring Officer under HPC’s Code of Conduct.
My concerns about Mr Truppin continued. So a few weeks ago, I wrote to other councillors and asked if any of them had Mr Truppin’s CV and, if so, could I have a copy. If no-one had a copy, I said I would ask LGRC for his CV.
I received no response.
So I wrote to LGRC as follows: -
“Dear Mr. McKnight
I am writing to ask if you could provide me with Mr. Truppin’s CV or other information which describes his relevant experience and qualifications as a locum parish clerk.
I ask because of my continuing concerns about Mr. Truppin’s understanding of the role and responsibilities of a parish clerk.
All the other locum Clerks from the Local Government Resource Centre (four I think) were appointed prior to starting work. LGRC provided CVs for all of them, including their experience and qualifications. All, if I remember, were experienced and qualified parish Clerks.
Mr. Truppin, on the other hand, started working for HPC at the beginning of October last year without Council’s approval and indeed without Council’s knowledge. He was only named as Proper Officer at the November meeting. Council had not been provided with Mr. Truppin’s CV nor with any other description of his previous experience and qualifications.
I asked Mr. Truppin for his CV at the November meeting. Mr. Truppin lost his temper with me, shouted and said I had no business to have this information.
I asked Mr. Truppin to apologise and asked him not to shout at me again. Mr Truppin did apologise but remained angry and said it was for the Chair to tell the Clerk what to do.
I didn’t say anything at the time but I think it is for anyone who is shouted at to ask the person shouting at them not to do it again, particularly if the person shouted at is an elderly woman like myself. I did give the Chair sufficient time to intervene and ask Mr Truppin to moderate his behaviour but the Chair did not do so. I therefore had to ask.
The upshot was that Council has never had Mr. Truppin’s CV or equivalent. I find this worrying because of course it is a councillor’s business to consider a Proper Officer’s competence when Council appoints (or names) them.
It is also of course a councillor’s business to ensure that Council is getting value for money in the contract it has with LGRC and ensuring it is getting an experienced and qualified locum Clerk when it is paying LGRC’s rates.
I did mention when I wrote on 15 March that the issue might be picked up by the local press. You may be aware that it duly has been picked up by the Bucks Free Press, including a mention of the cost to the Council of LGRC providing Mr Truppin’s services.
Mr Truppin’s actions are also causing comments by residents who are concerned that he has withheld from the Council correspondence with a regulatory body, HSE, which is investigating issues of child safety on HPC’s playgrounds.
His action are also causing alarm to residents as Mr Truppin has declined to provide invoices which should routinely be provided to Council so that Council can check payments before Council authorises them. You may know that about 10 years ago, HPC was defrauded by its then Clerk and residents are sensitive about the Council’s vulnerability to fraud and negligence.
I understand that when I wrote before expressing my concerns about Mr Truppin’s understanding of his conflict of interests, you referred the issue to the Monitoring Officer. You might like to know I decided over a year ago not to read anything from the Monitoring Officer or participate in BC’s complaints process.
I think it is a great pity you did not take my concerns seriously before.
At the March Council meeting, Mr Truppin again did not declare an interest under the relevant item when he obviously did have an interest. When his interest became relevant, he was asked to leave the meeting and he became angry. He had to be asked repeatedly to leave before he would do so.
When he returned to the meeting, he was still angry and shouted at me. I found the only course of action open to me was to leave the meeting. But no councillor should have to leave a meeting because the Clerk is shouting at them. As I left the meeting, Mr Truppin continued shouting at me.
I found his behaviour totally unacceptable.
It is for the Local Government Resource Centre to decide what to do. But I don’t think referring the matter to the Monitoring Officer resolves anything.
I am taking a break from Council business for a couple of weeks but look forward to receiving Mr. Truppin’s CV. I should make clear that I am asking as a councillor and not on behalf of the Council.”
This is Mr McKnight’s response:-
“Dear Councillor Derrick
I write in respect of your request for Mr Truppin’s CV.
As an individual councillor, it is not appropriate for me to send you that document which contains personal information. I would expect such a request to be forthcoming from our client, the council itself, supported by a council discussion and resolution.
By making it clear that you are asking as an individual councillor and not on behalf of the Council, I am at a loss as to where you believe your authorisation emanates, and therefore I am turning down this request.
You may wish to discuss this matter with your council chair, Cllr Jones.”
This is perhaps not an unreasonable response as I was writing as an individual councillor. However, I have to ask why Council needs to ask for a CV for Mr. Truppin when previous locum Clerks had provided their CV’s as a matter of course. And what is so personal when (as you can see below), information is available in the public domain.
What is noticeable, however, is that LGRC again failed to respond to my concerns, particularly Mr Truppin’s failure to declare an interest.
A parish clerk has a statutory duty to make a formal declaration about council contracts where they have a financial interest (the Local Government Act 1972, section 117). In addition, where the parish clerk has a conflict of interest in any matter, the clerk must not participate in that matter unless approved by the Council and this is formally recorded in the Council minutes.
Cllr Jones, HPC’s Chair, then responded as follows:-
“David,
The chair of HR and I have seen Mr Truppin's CV and do not think it needs to be shared with any other councillors, particularly one under sanctions for bullying staff.
At the time, the then Clerk and I had access to appropriate information which confirmed that Mr Truppin was suitably qualified and experienced to act as a Locum Clerk for HPC. This information was verified when the then Clerk and I met with Mr Truppin and subsequently via social media. The process by which he was appointed was dealt with at the Council meeting.
Having taken advice from an experienced Clerk I am satisfied that Council as a whole are not required to have access to the CV or application form of staff / Locum, only to be assured that the pertinent information has been considered and verified. I have discussed this with the Chair of the HR committee and we agree that we will not be making available any further information about Mr Truppin and we are satisfied that Mr Truppin remains the appointed Proper Officer untill we recruit a permanent Clerk.
Regards
Stan “
I thought I would do the same as Cllr Jones and look up Mr Truppin on social media.
According to Companies House, Mr Truppin has been a director of three small companies, from which he has resigned some years ago. He was born in May 1947 and is 77 this month.
According to Mr Truppin’s LinkedIn entry, he went to Birkbeck College from 1976-79 (when he was 29 – 32 years old) where he took an MSc in Economics.
He was the Town Clerk of Earley Town Council from May 2003 (when he was 56) until Sept 2018 (when he was 71). He then retired.
He then worked for the Local Government Resource Centre from Aug 2019 - Mar 2022. He then worked for St Ives Town Council in Cambridgeshire part-time from Apr 2022 - Aug 2022.
Presumably he returned to work for LGRC sometime between Aug 2022 and October 2023.
There is no information on social media about Mr Truppin’s qualifications or his experience before he was 56. It appears he had not been a parish clerk before he joined HPC.
I think the decision by the Cllr Jones and the Chair of HPC’s Human Resources Committee, Cllr Prashar, not to provide Mr Truppin’s CV to the Council was arrogant, underhand, and undemocratic. It was also wrong. It is not for two councillors to decide what information Council should have; decisions are made by Council not individual councillors.
I have pointed out many times to Cllr Jones that councils are not private sector companies. Under HPC’s Standing Orders, the only function of the Chair of HPC is to chair meetings. Council takes decisions. The Chair has no power to make decisions unless explicitly delegated to do so by Council.
The decision to appoint the Clerk and other officers is explicitly reserved to the Council under HPC’s scheme of delegation (paragraph 5) and Council has a duty to ensure it is getting value for money from a contract.
I have to conclude that Cllr Jones is running HPC as a tinpot dictatorship (with cash in the bank of half a million pounds of taxpayers’ money). He is assisted by a small cabal at HPC. I also have to conclude that other councillors are content with this arrangement and are negligent in carrying out their responsibilities as councillors.
I am not at all content.
I wish to carry out my duty as a councillor and ensure, at the very least, that Council is getting value for money from its contract with LGRC. That means ensuring that LGRC has provided a qualified and experienced parish clerk – and Cllr Jones’ and Cllr Prashar’s decision has prevented me, and Council, from fulfilling that duty.
Comments