THIS month's meeting of Holsworthy Town Council had to be adjourned after eight of the 11 councillors present stormed out as they did not want to discuss a grievance between the Mayor and the Town Clerk which occurred last year.

Over half of the items on the agenda did not get discussed, including the nominations for this year's Freeman, as the meeting was adjourned at around 7.30pm.

With four members of the public present, tensions began to rise at the meeting on Wednesday, April 1 when the Mayor, Cllr David Smith, read out a statement in which he announced that he was not prepared to be Mayor of Holsworthy for a further 12 months.

Under 'Mayor's Announ­ce­ments', just before nominations were to be received for Mayor and Deputy Mayor Designate, Cllr Smith rose to his feet and said: "It is normal practice for Holsworthy Town Mayors to serve a two year term of office. As a result of my experiences of the last year however I am not willing to be chairman of this council for a further year.

"I feel that I owe an explanation for my action to both the council and the residents of Holsworthy.

"I am not convinced that we are delivering value for money to the council tax payers of Holsworthy. This year we are charging nearly £42,000, however, never a week goes by without at least one townsperson contacting me to complain about some aspect of the council's behaviour. Indeed the only time I have received any positive feedback was after the January meeting where I commented on our poor performance — people whom I did not know stopped me in the street to express their agreement with my statement.

"I am worried that we are not being fully accountable to the tax payers of Holsworthy; the latest set of minutes on our website date from July 2008, the list of councillors includes two people who are no longer on the council.

"We change Standing Orders whenever they appear inconvenient."

At this point, Cllr Richard Brown said that Cllr Smith was "expressing opinions as if facts." However, Cllr Smith said that whilst the Mayor was on his feet councillors must not interupt.

Cllr Smith continued: "These are the rules which govern how the council conducts its business, and we change them without examining the reasons for having these rules, and without considering any impact that these changes might have.

'COUNCIL FAILED'

"I have ten years experience as a town councillor but am one of only three councillors who have undertaken training as a councillor. We have similarly failed to provide adequate career development to our employees; Clare has been with us for three and a half years, and we have not ensured that she has completed the course to become a qualified town clerk.

"I would once again remind councillors of the old adage 'the person who controls the agenda and minutes controls the decisions;' it is our responsibility to set policy, and to support our staff to implement these policies.

"For these reasons I cannot in all conscience remain the chairman of the council for another year.

"In conclusion, I would like to thank those councillors who have supported me and to assure the townspeople that I will continue to represent their interests for the remainder of my term as councillor."

Nothing was said as the Mayor moved the meeting onto agenda item eight to receive nominations for Mayor Designate. Cllr Richard Kennedy nominated Cllr Elizabeth Squire which was seconded by Cllr Becky Buckingham. Councillors voted in favour and as there were no other nominations, Cllr Squire accepted the position.

Cllr Desmond Jose nominated Cllr Becky Buckingham for Deputy Mayor Designate which was seconded by Cllr Elizabeth Squire. Again this was supported by the rest of the council and there were no other nominations.

After going through the accounts due for payment and the minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, the next item was to "discuss and agree a course of action regarding the nine recommendations made by the Grievance Panel."

The Grievance Panel met in October 6, 2008 to consider issues which had been raised by the Town Clerk, Mrs Clare Dalley about the actions of the Mayor.

The 'Post' understands that the Grievance Panel consisting of Cllrs Rebecca Buckingham, Elizabeth Squire, Pam Johns and ex-councillor Paul Sales, made the series of recommendations after first exploring in private separately with both parties "possible solutions to this difficult situation."

It is understood the recommendations included:

That the town clerk, Mayor and Deputy Mayor should continue to work closely in planning agendas and other aspects of the council's business;

A third party be identified whose role would be to act as "an honest broker" and "mentor" to both parties;

Some team building work for the whole of the council should be undertaken;

The town clerk's job description to be reviewed placing an additional emphasis on working contructively with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

At the meeting, Cllr Smith said he felt the recommendations had "not yet been discussed by the council" and he felt it was "appropriate" to discuss it.

Cllr Richard Kennedy said that Cllr Smith had a prejudicial interest in the matter, which would mean he could not take part in the discussion, something Cllr Smith denied. The Mayor said it was "in the interest of the council" to discuss what happened.

Cllr Kennedy said the matter was sorted out six months and "shouldn't be discussed at all." Cllr Smith responded by saying that his ruling was "not up for discussion."

'FARCE'

At this point Cllr Kennedy said he was leaving the meeting. The Town Clerk agreed with the view that Cllr Smith did have a prejudicial interest and added: "I will leave the meeting for the rest of the evening if this farce continues."

As Cllr Smith still wanted to discuss the matter, the town clerk and Cllrs Squire, Kennedy, Buckingham, Richard Brown, Brian Harris, Desmond Jose, Ray Latty and Mary Barfett left the meeting leaving Cllrs Smith, Bruce Priddy and Pam Johns. Cllr Des Shadrick had given his apologises and was not present at the meeting.

As the quorum for a full meeting of the town council is four and there were only three councillors remaining, the meeting was adjourned.

A member of the public present asked: "What sort of council have we got?"

After the meeting, town and district councillor Richard Brown said that if councillors had taken part in the debate they would have been condoning the actions of the Mayor. He said: "The only way we could disassociate ourselves was to leave the meeting."

Cllr Brown, who has been a councillor for several years and is a former Mayor, said: "I do know the rule book..."

Cllr Brown also said it was "quite improper" to discuss details of the clerk's employment.

He believed Cllr Smith's remarks were "hugely damaging" and added: "I'm not going to put up with anymore."

Cllr Brown said that the Mayor had "an extraordinary view that 11 other people are out of step with him."

Responding to several of the items raised in Cllr Smith's statement, Mrs Dalley, the Town Clerk, said that the website referred to by the Mayor was no longer owned or maintained by the council as it had been transferred, along with Visitor Information Centre to the Memorial Hall. The council therefore had "no control over it." The council are in the process of having a new website constructed.

With regards to her training, Mrs Dalley said she had been supported by the council and had attended numerous training courses including the DAPC's legislation training, as well as a course run by the Open College Network where she obtained a level three pass which qualifies her as a funding advisor. This was something Mrs Dalley considered to be "really advantageous" as the council was at the moment putting together their recreational strategy.

Standing Orders were a "working document" said Mrs Dalley, which had been devised by the town council. Therefore, as a working document, "if you find areas that need to be amended because they are not relevent anymore then you change them," she said.

However there was a detailed comprehensive stucture in place which has to be followed when changing or revising Standing Orders, something the town council had "followed to the letter when there has been any changes," she said.

Mrs Dalley said comments made by Cllr Smith last Wednesday and at the January meeting had "never been backed up with any evidence or facts."

A meeting was scheduled for 7pm last night (Wednesday) when councillors were to 'elect a proper officer', 'receive a recommendation from the Finance and General Purposes Committee to adopt the tender specification relating to the maintenance of the town's War Memorial prepared by the Town Clerk', 'To agree to purchase 30 tickets for the St Peter's Fair Lunch.' and discuss and agree a candidate for the Freeman of Holsworthy.