Cllr Leo Hammond said at the Extraordinary Council meeting on November 7th that the meeting had been called to appoint a clerk as quickly as possible.
Despite mentioning appointing an ‘Interim Clerk’ 8 times during the meeting the minutes do not mention the word ‘interim’.
This matters because the minutes are a legal record and are a formal account of decisions made, motions passed, and actions agreed upon. In this case the minutes do not accurately record what was agreed.
At council meeting on 20th November when Cllr Hammond introduced the clerk he did not say if the appointment was interim or permanent.
I reached out to Cllr Hammond to ask for clarity regarding the clerks’ appointment.
Despite agreeing to appoint an interim clerk the council have appointed a permanent clerk. This is his explanation:
“The Clerks contract is for the role of permanent parish clerk, however, written into the contract is a probationary period which ends in January. We included this so that the newly elected Parish Council could determine if they wished to keep the current clerk or not.
It will now be up to the personnel committee of the new council to decide that and then make a recommendation to the full council at their meeting in January.”
Usually when councils find themselves without a clerk, they appoint an interim or locum clerk so that they can advertise more widely for a permanent replacement. Thus, ensuring a competitive process to identify the best qualified person. Shiptonthorpe council decided not to do this.
In my opinion it was in the interests of the current council to appoint someone as quickly as possible who would be loyal to them in case others might join the council who did not share their views and priorities.
Shiptonthorpe residents must decide whether or not this council is operating within accepted norms and with honesty, transparency and integrity.
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