Town Clerk Suspended

LEIGH Town Council’s Town Clerk, Helen Symmons PSLCC, has been suspended from her job, a number of sources close to the council have revealed to the Leigh On Sea News.

Ms Symmons’ suspension comes after apparent frictions between councillors and the Town Clerk following the recent elections, which saw radical changes in the make up of the council.

On July 10, Leigh Town Council held an Extra Ordinary meeting after Councillors put forward three motions.

The first related to Councillors expenses/allowances. However that motion was struck from the agenda as any review of Town councillor’s expenses must be carried out by Southend City Council.

Two other Motions were considered and voted through at the meeting. Motion Two proposed having an independent review of all staff.

Motion Three proposed reviewing Standing Orders (the Council’s rules) and all Council policy documents.

Following the July 10, meeting, the Town Clerk, Helen Symmons, advised members that any decision taken at that meeting with regard to the motions could be challenged under a judicial review, as she said Standing Orders had not been properly complied with, therefore the motions could not be progressed and had to be treated as withdrawn.

Following a difficult full council meeting on July 25, where councillors chose to defer approving the minutes of the July 10 Extra Ordinary meeting and the Town Clerks report,  members of the Staffing Committee were asked to attend an Extra Ordinary meeting on Friday July 28.

On Monday July 31, members of the Finance and Governance Committee were also asked to attend an Extra Ordinary meeting, which started at 7.30 pm. This Extra Ordinary meeting was followed by another Extra Ordinary meeting, this time of the full council, which started at 8 pm.

The agenda for all three of these Extra Ordinary meetings essentially included just three significant motions. One excluded the public and press ‘in view of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.’

Another related to a confidential ‘staff matter’ and the final Motion related to a confidential ‘HR matter.’

At some point, following these meetings it is understood that the Town Clerk, Ms Symmons, was suspended from her job.

When asked to comment, Chairman of the Town Council, Bernard Arscott, said: “We can’t comment on internal staffing matters at this time.”

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