30 September 2021
Follow me @LindaDerrick1
Facebook Linda Derrick for Ridgeway East
I’ve sometimes referred to Hughenden Parish Council as Alice in Wonderland but now things are getting a bit disturbing.
You see the Clerk has declined to discuss anything face-to-face with me since I first became a councillor. So, I have had to e-mail - which I find inefficient and time-consuming.
Having forced me to e-mail, the Clerk then told me that my e-mails - three, short, innocuous e-mails sent over 2 days – had entirely disrupted the work of the office.
Because the office couldn’t cope with my three short innocuous e-mails, the Clerk told me that she will now no longer provide me with requests for information; she has delegated that work to councillors. She has also banned me from the Council offices and from meeting the deputy Clerk.
Normally I would blog the Clerk’s e-mail and let readers see it for themselves. However, even though her e-mail is open, I think some of it should have been classified as staff-in-confidence. So, I have summarised what she said below.
My response to her then follows. It is a long response but what the Clerk proposes adversely affects how I can represent residents of Widmer End and Four Ashes. What she proposes is undemocratic and unacceptable.
Summary of the Clerk’s e-mail of 20 September
1. The Deputy Clerk received 11 e-mails from me on the morning of Monday 20 September and “this had a detrimental effect on her approach to the day”;
2. My “correspondence habits are to author numerous emails over a weekend which sets the tone and workload for the week ahead”. My “questions penned over the weekend do not provide time to adjust the agenda and given that Mondays are the busiest day of the week, time to address your concerns”.
3. I am “by far the most demanding member on the council and demonstrate the least awareness of the impact of your communications and actions. Threatening public disclosure whenever things don’t go your way, in your timeframe is disappointing and not in keeping with the Nolan Principles.”
4. In order to protect the Deputy Clerk, I should
a) address all my emails for officers to the relevant committee chairman; they will provide me with answers; b) not attend the office in person except when summoned to a formal meeting; officers will not agree to meet me unless other councillors are present.
5. “Enquiries relating to previous decisions will not be accepted”.
My response to the Clerk
Points 1 and 2.
I have asked for details of the 11 e-mails you say I sent to the Deputy Clerk. You have not responded. My search engine has only produced three, short, uncontentious e-mails.
I have
- repeatedly offered to meet and discuss issues with you face to face. You have not responded;
- repeatedly offered help and advice, particularly as you have told the Council on a number of occasions that officers cannot cope with the work and are working long hours. You have declined these offers; and
- made practical suggestions which would help the office’s workload. You have not responded.
The consequence of you declining discussion and help is that I have to communicate with you by e-mail. This is inefficient, inconvenient and time consuming for me.
I should remind you that
- I have been elected by residents to represent them on the parish council. I do this voluntarily and without any pay. I carry out this work in my own time and it is my choice when I do this work;
- HPC has, in practice, only 7 councillors rather than the full complement of 15. That means that each one of us at the moment has to cover, on average, twice as much work as we would normally expect to do; and
- I have double the workload but am forced to work already in a way which is time consuming and unproductive.
All the Council meetings I attend are held on Monday or Tuesday evenings. Normally the bundle of papers comes out on the Friday. As I have other commitments on Friday, this inevitably means I have to e-mail officers at the weekend if I need information or have concerns in order to give them time to respond.
If this has a “detrimental effect” on the work of the office, then there are solutions. You could:-
a) send out papers earlier, or at least those that are ready;
b) prepare a schedule of what is going to be discussed at future meetings. That would allow councillors to prepare well ahead and relieve you of a last- minute overload of work;
c) rearrange meetings to the end of the week so you have the whole week to resolve any issues before the meeting; and
d) organize the work of the office to allow time to answer councillors’ questions and concerns on the Monday.
The solution to your problem lies in your own hands. I am still willing to help. I am still willing to discuss with you and/or the deputy Clerk, separately or together.
Point 3
You say I am the most “demanding” councillor. However, so far, I have merely asked for the minimum I would expect of a parish Clerk. I have asked for sufficient information for me to take well- informed council decisions, particularly when those involve substantial public expenditure. I have also asked you to comply with HPC’s Financial Regulations.
What I have asked you to do is to fulfil no more than the basic responsibilities for a Clerk as set out by the Local Government Association and as contained in your job description.
As far as “threatening public disclosure”, I have said many times since I became a councillor, that I regard all information held by the Council and all communications by officers and councillors as open to the public, unless classified. This is entirely consistent with the Principles of Public Life, guidance from the Information Commissioner and my own firmly held principles.
Point 4
The post of the Clerk is a statutory post and providing information and support to councillors is a fundamental part of your job description.
The Council is your employer and I believe you cannot opt out of your responsibilities unilaterally.
Residents will wish to know why they are paying a Clerk who intends to transfer some of her most important functions to councillors, who are already more than fully loaded, and expect them to carry out those functions for free.
If you wish to renegotiate your job description – and therefore presumably your employment contract – with the Council that is entirely up to you.
In the meantime, I will continue to address my requests for support and information to yourself and I expect you to provide that support and information in line with your statutory duties and job description.
You say that I should not attend the office except for a formal meeting. I believe the office is owned by the Council and it is for Council to determine who should have access. I am very happy to abide by Council’s decision, but Council will need to explain why it is denying access to the Council offices to one of its councillors.
As it happens, I see no need to visit the Council offices. Apart from one Council meeting, I do not think I have gone into the Council offices since I became a councillor. However, if I want access, then I expect to be given it.
You say officers will not meet with me unless other councillors are present. I can’t make you meet but, as you see, you need to manage the consequences.
Point 5
The Council cannot decline to accept enquires relating to decisions of the Council. This is plainly contrary to the Principles of Public Life. Councils remain accountable for their decisions as do individual councillors.
Refusal to answer enquires about previous decisions will further damage the reputation of the Council.
You say you have “checked these procedures with the monitoring officer and they are acceptable actions”. I am therefore copying to her, senior management in BC and the internal auditor.
Comments