Hostile Council Meeting

COUNCILLORS were shouted down, accused of lying, laughed at and jeered by angry members of the public who attended an extra meeting of Leigh Town Council on Wednesday September 13 at Leigh Community Centre.

The Meeting was videoed and posted to YouTube. It can be seen and heard by visiting: https://www.youtube.com/@garethevans6490/videos.

The meeting was primarily to consider two motions proposed by Couns, Mulroney, Hart and Bowry.

The first motion ‘proposed amendments to the staff handbook’ and the second a ‘vote of no confidence in the leadership of Leigh Town Council and removal of Leader and Chairmen of Committees.’

Neither motion was passed. Coun Mulroney said in a Facebook post after the meeting: “We didn’t win the vote but, we never would, the point was to call them (the Tory councillors) to account and make it plain we would continue to do so.”

A member of the public asked if the council was fully functioning. Chair Coun Arscott responded: “The council is now fully functioning.”

Later questions relating to the suspension of Town Clerk, Helen Symmons, were responded to by Coun Arscott: “Staffing matters can’t be discussed publicly, there’s an ongoing investigation and we cannot provide that information at this time, it’s a confidential matter.”

In response to a question from a member of the public, Coun Arscott confirmed that details of the costs incurred by the Town Clerk’s suspension would be made public.

A motion was proposed by Coun Hart that the suspension of the Town Clerk be resolved within 7 working days. Vice Chair, Coun McCurdy, said: We cannot guarantee 7 days … this is in the hands of an independent group.

“She will do what she needs to do to make sure that the Town Clerk gets a very fair and clear hearing. Once she does that, then she will make a determination.”

Coun Flewitt refuted an allegation that he had called the residents of Leigh ‘trolls’ in a recent letter to the Leigh On Sea News.

He said: “I did not say that the people of Leigh are trolls.” Referring to his letter he said: “‘The only winners have been the trolls and those who want the current structure to stay in place with little or no accountability or transparency. The town council must be about the residents and councillors.”

Coun Mulroney asked: “Will the chairman confirm whether or not any councillor has had access to confidential staff files and also whether any councillor or the HR consultant has been in contact with former members of staff, and for what purpose?

Coun Arscott replied: no, no councillor has had access to the confidential files that relate to staff, obviously they remain confidential and if anything is required, they will be handed over to the investigation directly.

“In terms of direct contact with staff, we have had two former members of staff whistle blow contact and that is as far as I will say on that matter.”

Conservative councillors made it clear that they do not feel they are being appropriately supported by council staff, but Coun Mulroney said: “I don’t think for one minute that the staff are telling you that they aren’t there to advise you because they don’t want to. It’s because it’s not their role and they don’t have the wherewithal to be able to do so, because it’s not part of their job.”

Coun Murat Agdeve said: “We all believe it is important we have an Assistant Town Clerk or someone who is qualified to be able to step in, in instances like this, whether it be through ill health or suspension, when our current Town Clerk is not available.

“Unfortunately at the moment that is not the case, but we are going through a staffing review at some point and that will be amended.”

Coun Agdeve later listed a number of items that had ‘jumped out’ at him from the council’s accounts.

He said: “ I would like to propose that the council resolve to have the accounts forensically investigated to identify any fraud that may be taking place and prevent any future fraud.”

Ex Council Chairman, Keith Evans, spoke from the public area saying: “Responsibility is with the Chair, who will go through every invoice, which is signed and details exactly what it is, so just for clarity and for the public to know, that that’s what the process is and so the process is already there.”

The Locum Town Clerk, Michael Leath, explained that the official process of auditing would generally be to test the process rather than look for fraud.

Coun Mulroney asked if Coun Arscott had found any concerning items. He said: “There are quite a lot of transactions in the period I’ve been looking at, obviously, I’ll be able to give a fuller answer to your question at the next meeting.”

Coun Agdeve asked: “and they are available to us when we ask? because previously when I asked I was told that we were not allowed to look at them.”

Mr Leath confirmed, he can inspect the accounts, including receipts.

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