Agenda and minutes

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the minutes of the meeting on 9 December 2020 and 2 February 2021.

The minutes of meetings held on 9 December 2020 and 2 February 2021 were noted.

To note the Sub-Committee’s terms of reference:-

Audit and Governance (Hearing) Sub-Committees for the consideration of Code of Conduct Issues

(a)        The Audit and Governance Committee shall arrange that, to the extent it is called upon to determine any allegation relating to a Member Code of Code (including that of a Town Council or a Parish Council), the determination shall be made by a Sub-Committee of the Audit and Governance Committee.  An Audit and Governance Sub-Committee with such responsibility may include non-Members.  An Audit and Governance Sub-Committee that has non-Members forming part of it shall not have any power relating to the regulation and/or control of the finances of the Council.

(b)        Substitutes may only be appointed to an Audit and Governance Sub-Committee from the membership of the Audit and Governance Committee.  There shall be no power to appoint non Member substitutes.

To note the Dorset Council Member Complaint Process:

Click here

Members of the Hearing Sub-committee noted the Terms of Reference of the committee and the complaints process.

Members of the Hearing Sub-committee received and noted the Shaftesbury Town Council Code of Conduct and the Shaftesbury Town Council Bullying and Harassment Policy.

Documents attached:

Complaint

Report by the Investigating Officer

Shaftesbury Town Council minutes 18 February 2020

Email chain relating to complaints 08/20, 013/20, 023/20

The Chairman explained the process that would be followed for each of the three complaint hearings.

In response to a question from Cllr P Yeo the Chairman confirmed the Hearing Sub-Committee had watched the videos of the relevant Town Council meetings more than once and read the extensive pack of papers for each complaint.

In response to a question from Cllr K Tippins in relation to the relevance of the  Shaftesbury Town Council Code of Conduct and Bullying and Harassment Policy the Deputy Monitoring Officer confirmed it had been included in the Agenda pack for completeness as it was referred to in the complaints received.  It is also referred to in the Investigating Officers reports, including comment on its relevance.

Cllr K Tippins questioned the content of the Investigating Officer reports and why they did not refer to case law.  The Deputy Monitoring Officer confirmed the report is an Investigation Report and not a final decision, which is a matter for the Hearing Sub-Committee.

Ms J Andrews, Investigating Officer presented a summary of her investigation report into complaint 08/20 and outlined her findings that Cllr K Tippins breached the Code of Conduct by failing to treat the presenter with respect and behaved in such a way that could be regarded as bringing her office or the council into disrepute.

The Chairman then invited Cllr K Tippins to ask questions of the Investigating Officer relating to the investigation.  Cllr K Tippins asked questions in relation to:

She had not been informed until recently of the Independent Person’s initial view of February 2020  that the complaint did not warrant investigation and questioned why this did not form the basis of the Investigation Report ;

She had requested but not been provided with details of alleged wrong-doing’

Why Dorset Council had investigated the complaint and the cost justification;

Why the Investigation Report lacked reference to case law;

What evidence the Investigating Officer had to show the presenter was a guest of the committee;

Why the Investigating Officer had given an opinion that Cllr Tippins   was disinterested in the presentation;

There had been a 3 month delay in Cllr Tippins being informed of the complaint and meeting with the Investigating Officer.  Cllr K Tippins asked what evidence the Investigating Officer had seen that Cllr Tippins had her back to the screen.

The Investigating Officer responded to questions:

The Investigating Officer had been instructed by the Assessment Sub-Committee to conduct an investigation and the allegation was that Cllr K Tippins failed to turn to watch a presentation;

The Investigating Officer is not a lawyer and the Investigation Report contains her opinion reached following discussions held with Cllr K Tippins and the complainant; 

The presenter had been invited to speak and the Investigating Officer view was the presenter was a guest of the Town Council;

The meeting was held before current arrangements for live streaming of meetings and so there was no recording to view. 

The Chairman clarified that the Monitoring Officer had already acknowledged and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Documents attached:

Complaint by Cllr M Welch;

Report by Investigating Officer;

Email from Cllr Welch dated 04/06/20;

Apology from Cllr K Tippins;

Email chain relating to complaints 08/20; 013/20 and 023/20;

Affidavit regarding the actions of Cllr A Hollingshead in baiting and bullying Cllr Mrs K Tippins;

Witness statement from Mr R Thomas.   

Ms J Andrews, Investigating Officer presented a summary of her investigation report into complaint 013/20 and outlined her findings, that both Cllr Tippins and Cllr Yeo breached the Code of Conduct by failing to treat other councillors with respect and behaved in such a way that could be reasonably be regarded as bringing the council into disrepute.  The Investigating Officer acknowledged that Cllr Tippins had provided a written apology to the complainant after the Investigation Report had been issued.

The Chairman then invited Cllr K Tippins and Cllr P Yeo to ask questions of the Investigating Officer.

Cllr K Tippins asked questions in relation to:

Why the Investigating Report lacked reference to case law?;

Why the conclusion did not take account of Cllr K Tippins’ rights under Article 10; freedom of speech and freedom of expression during political debate;  

The relevance of the reference to a newspaper article which had since been withdrawn;

Dorset Council failed to provide details of the Independent Person which had caused her disadvantage;

The Independent Person had stated on 30^th April 2020 that an informal apology should be made by Cllr K Tippins.  Why did the Investigating Officer not take this into account and why is it not referred to in the Investigation Report and Agenda pack;

Why did the Investigating Officer not state the context for Cllr K Tippins comments to Cllr Welch and conduct of others in the meeting.

In response the Investigating Officer confirmed that:

She was not a lawyer and that her conclusions had been based on discussions with the complainant and councillors and her views were based on the Code of Conduct.

Reference was made to a national newspaper to demonstrate the far reaching impacts, in the context of the requirement of the Code of Conduct provisions about not bringing the council into disrepute;

The Investigating Officer did not make the decision whether to investigate a complaint, which was a decision taken by the Assessment Sub-Committee with the benefit of the Independent Persons views;

In this hearing and the Investigating Report the Investigating Officer acknowledged the conduct of others in the meeting and Cllr K Tippins apology.

The Chairman confirmed that Cllr K Tippins points about case law were noted and would be taken into account during decision making.

Cllr P Yeo was also given the opportunity to ask questions of the Investigating Officer:

Cllr P Yeo stated that Cllr Welch had lied in his complaint as Cllr P Yeo had not called Cllr Welch thick or an idiot in the meeting;

Why had others not been investigated?

Why had Cllr P Yep been investigated?

Cllr P Yeo considered there were errors in the Investigating Officer’s report and so he added information into his interview statement;

In response the Investigating Officer confirmed that:

During the hearing and in the Investigating Report the Investigating Officer had stated that Cllr P Yeo did not call Cllr Welch thick or an idiot but he had said “she’s got a point”.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Documents attached:

Complaint by Mr J Thrift;

Report by the Investigating Officer;

Email chain relating to complaints 08/20; 013/20; 023/20.

Ms J Andrews, Investigating Officer presented a summary of her investigation report into complaint 023/20 and outlined her findings, hat the conduct of Cllr P Yeo, mouthing abusive language with the associated hand gesture, which Cllr P Yeo had not denied and which could be seen on the recording of the meeting, was in breach of the Code of Conduct, by failing to treat his fellow councillors with respect, and his behaviour could reasonably be regarded as bringing the council into disrepute.

The Chairman then invited Cllr P Yeo to ask questions of the Investigating Officer.  Cllr P Yeo had no questions.

The Chairman invited questions from Cllr R Adkins and Cllr W Trite, who both confirmed that they had no questions for the Investigating Officer.

The Independent Person, Mr M Powell confirmed that he had no questions for the Investigating Officer.

The Chairman invited Cllr P Yeo to present his response to the Sub-committee.

Cllr P Yeo made the following points:

Cllr P Yeo had complained to the Chief Executive of Dorset Council and  would be referring the procedure for all of the complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman;

The Localism Act stated that only serious matters should be investigated under code of conduct;

Cllr P Yeo referred to the conduct of others and points of procedure at the meeting in question, including that his microphone had been turned off;

Cllr P Yeo had been standing up for Cllr K Tippins;

Cllr P Yeo admitted that he used a well known hand signal to show his distain towards the conduct of others in the meeting;

The Independent Person had not recommended that the complaint should be investigated;

He had not brought  the Town Council into disrepute;

Others had commended Cllr P Yeo for standing up to malicious malignant bullies. 

The Investigating Officer had no questions.

Mr J Thrift had no questions.

Cllr R Adkins had no questions.

In response to a question from Cllr W Trite, Cllr P Yeo did not withdraw his use of the term ‘malignant’ and commented that he thought it was a good expression.

Mr M Powell confirmed that he had no questions.

At that point (15.16pm) members of the Sub-committee, Deputy Monitoring Officer and clerk to the committee moved into exempt business to consider the decision of the Sub-committee.

At 15.38pm the members of the Sub-committee returned to the meeting to announce the decision. 

Decision

Members of the Sub-committee having viewed the agenda documents and the videos and having listened very carefully to all of the representations made find that the standards displayed by Cllr P Yeo in a public meeting to be vulgar, rude and offensive and therefore find most strongly that Cllr P Yeo breached the Shaftesbury Town Council Code of Conduct, specifically Section 2.1(b) ‘respect to others’ and Section 2.2 (g) ‘bringing the council into disrepute’. 

The Sub-committee send the clearest message that this type of conduct will not be tolerated and therefore censure Cllr P Yeo in the strongest possible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972.  The reason for urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no items of urgent business.

To move the exclusion of press and the public for the following items in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 1 of schedule 12A to the Local government act 1972 (as amended).

There were no items of exempt business.