Manorbier.com
What is it about Manorbier Community Council and its chairman Cllr Wales that compels all three reported applicants for the post of Council Clerk to withdraw their applications before initial interview?
Cllr David Neads, the councillor/proper officer continued an emerging pattern of absence by his non attendance at the council meeting on 13th March 2008 when the subject of the appointment of a new clerk was to be the subject of discussion. The council have been kept in the dark by Cllr Wales, Neads and Coleman about the impending unfair dismissal claim by Mrs Davies the previous clerk.
On the subject of applicants for the position of clerk Cllr Calver asked Cllr Wales if the applicants had put their decision to withdraw in writing. Cllr Wales indicated that he had just received their withdrawals verbally. The council have never been informed of the identity of applicants or any other information regarding them or their applications following the post being advertised, and re-advertised, in the local press. Perhaps a Freedom of Information request to the council for these details should be made?
Cllr Calver asked Cllr Wales to supply details of the case against the Clerk to him and his fellow councillors, Cllr Wales however refused to supply any information. The case for unfair dismissal being brought by Mrs Davies is scheduled for a three day hearing by an Employment Tribunal in Cardiff from 21st April 2008.
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Manorbier Community Council have not been informed at any stage over the last two years of the case against the Clerk or details of the pre-trial hearing at Carmarthen when the chairman of the hearing advised Cllr Wales and Cllr Neads that in his opinion the Council should seek legal representation. It seems that closed meetings with limited invitees have been held which is at worst illegal and at best seemingly very underhand. Not all councillors have been informed of the case against the Clerk which is of grave concern as the case could result in another large bill for the Community Council perhaps running into thousands of pounds. Cllrs Wales, Neads and Coleman have continued with a case against a former employee without other councillors being made fully aware of its details. The public should be concerned that one councillor who has tried to obtain information on this case has been denied access. Members of the public who have seen reports on this website concerning this issue over the last twelve months have raised concerns that Cllr Wales is seemingly suppressing information on the case with the collusion of Cllrs Neads and Coleman until after the May 1st election.
Failure by Cllr Wales to provide minutes of meeting held on 7th February 2008 at the 13th March meeting and also the monthly financial statement.
Cllr Wales failed to supply the minutes with his usual remark that "they were not ready" thus denying councillors the opportunity to agree, or disagree, the record of decisions taken at that meeting. At the meeting on 7th February Cllr Wales did not disclose to the members of the council or local ratepayers who attended the meeting of correspondence the council had received. The public we are informed had attended the meeting to listen to the discussions on information that had been requested by the Freedom of Information Commissioner's regarding the MCC Accounts from the council. Full correspondence was again not disclosed by Cllr Wales to council members thus denying them the full facts of the situation the council finds itself in at present or likely to be in after the May 1st elections.
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We have been made aware by members of the public that letters they had written to the Council and also copies of letters which they have received from bodies such as the Freedom of Information Commissioner which have been written to Manorbier Community Council have not been disclosed to the full council. Manorbier Community Council charge payers have just received notification of the rates to be paid in 2008/9 by Pembrokeshire County Council which includes the Manorbier element, called the precept, that the Manorbier Community Council require for the year 2008-09. Perhaps the time has come for the Director of Finance at Pembrokeshire County Council Mr Mark Lewis and their Monitoring Officer Mr Laurence Harding to instigate an investigation into the running of this council by both its chairman Cllr Wales and its proper officer Cllr Neads since the dismissal of the Clerk. Cllr Wales and Neads have refused to disclose copies of council accounts for nearly the whole period of the current council membership, May 2004 to May 2008, even after Cllr Neads has been instructed to do so by various bodies.
If Pembrokeshire County Council through its Director of Finance is to carry out its duty to the public, it must not simply collect council tax from the community but also act as the guardians of the public purse and monitor when necessary the actions of those few who control the Community Council. The need arises for this monitoring when a council appears to be being run incorrectly and the justification for this action to prevent the possibility of future major financial implications for the council charge payers. In the case of Manorbier the apparent irregularities should prompt the Director for Finance of Pembrokeshire County Council to take the initiative and investigate Manorbier Community Council. One wonders how much contact Pembrokeshire County Council has had with Cllr Wales or the councils, so called, proper officer Cllr Neads now or in the past. The combined role of Proper Officer and Councillor is not a situation that should have been allowed to continue for two years as an elected politician now has control over what comes before councillors at meetings and it is apparent that in Manorbier both Cllrs Wales and Neads are withholding information from the electorate and other councillors for personal political reasons.