NEW - MEETING THIS THURSDAY 19/2/09 at BURTON HOTEL, Kington. Come and have YOUR say on what YOU think of the Council! ! ! ! Visit the Kington Town Council Blog http://kingtontowncouncil.blogspot.com/ The residents of Kington, Herefordshire has put up with years of bickering amongst Town Coucillors, and has had enough. Many good Councillors have come and gone in despair, some due to personal threats made against them. http://www.southshropshirejournals.com/2008/12/19/kington-three-accused-of-bullying/ and last week:- http://www.southshropshirejournals.com/2009/01/09/council-under-spotlight/ THREE COUNCILLORS HAVE NOW BEEN UNLAWFULLY SUSPENDED There is no substance to the trumped up 'bullying' charge. Not one scrap of evidence has been produced. The gang of three and the Clerk had an ulterior motive to suspend the three. That is: those suspended had raised serious criticisms of the ability of the Clerk The Clerks Probation is about to end The gang of three and the Clerk had used an UNADOPTED, draft Advice Note This 'secret' Advice Note (46/2006) came from the Clerk's union. The parts they 'selected' said they can suspend Councillors for bullying or harassment. They ignored and omitted the crucial preceding part OF THE SAME SECTION that said: "2.4) Disciplinary action: Following a grievance hearing or investigation into allegations of bullying or harassment a full report will be made to all parties and this may result in disciplinary action being taken against the perpetrator of the alleged action/behaviour." There has been no Grievance Hearing or Investigation A Full Report was NOT made. No Evidence, No Charge, No Report, No 'Result' has been put to those suspended. Therefore it is blatantly unlawful and morally wrong. The Council as a whole are morally bankrupt and dysfunctional. The following Councillors were NOT involved in the unlawful suspension:- J Thomas B Widdowson E Rolls C Kibblewhite J Squires T Bounds E Banks WE THE UNDERSIGNED CALL ON THE COUNCIL TO RESIGN (Please leave a NAME OR a Comment (or preferably both) You may also send your complaints about the Town Council to [email protected] 2/2/09 ****** NEW UPDATE: ****** A PUBLIC Meeting will be held at the Burton Hotel THURSDAY 19 FEB at 7.30pm Councillors will be asked to explain their actions, and will be asked to resign: THE TOWN HAS LOST ALL CONFIDENCE IN IT'S COUNCIL. The STANDARDS BOARD to uphold Standards in Public Office writes:- "27th January 2009 Kington Town Council Thank you for your letter of 12th January about Kington Town Council. As you know, my Committee and I have been keen to see standards of governance at Kington improve so that the Council can provide both the service and the leadership which its local community deserves. The Herefordshire Standards Committee has over a long period sought to provide the advice and support which would assist that improvement. You will recall that Marie Rosenthal, the former Herefordshire Monitoring Officer, and I spent a considerable amount of time on this, including discussions with most members of the Council; and Marie's successor, Alan McLaughlin, has been ready to give whatever help is necessary. The latest series of formal complaints against Kington Councillors has now convinced me that remedial action of this sort is unlikely to be effective in present circumstances. Those complaints have been considered by Assessment Sub-Committees of the Standards Committee under the new procedure for local consideration of complaints. Each Sub-Committee was chaired by one of my Independent Member colleagues (that is, not only politically neutral but also independent of Herefordshire Council) and both Sub-Committees came to same conclusions. The complaints against Kington Councillors have been referred to the Standards Board for England for three reasons: First, that they are so serious that, if proven, the conduct complained of merits a sanction greater than that which could be imposed by my Committee (a six-month suspension); Second, that the investigation of the complaints is likely to be so extensive that it would impose an unreasonable burden upon Herefordshire Council; and Third, that both Assessment Sub-Committees have serious concerns about how Kington Council conducts its work. I am aware that it has been alleged that your letter to me, and its appearance in the press, might have influenced the Sub-Committees in their decisions. This is not the case. The Assessment Sub-Committee which dealt with three of the four complaints was unaware of your letter. The Sub-Committee which dealt with the fourth complaint had a copy of your letter, but it played no part in their decision to treat the fourth complaint in the same way as the first three. The Decision Notices of the referrals are publicly available and will shortly be published on the Herefordshire Council website. You are free to make whatever public use of this letter you may wish. Yours sincerely, ROBERT ROGERS CHAIRMAN OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE" ***UPDATE*** 3/2/09, Word on the Block has it the Mayor has accepted his position IS untenable after the above, and is resigning, but there are 4 or 5 other Councillors that MUST GO! p.s. An apology to anyone who has left a comment where it has not appeared - there is a fault on the site, the owners are working to fix. However even those coming up as anonymous are being logged, thanks for your comments. For more info email [email protected] Together we will win!