Manorbier.com
A Night to Forget - A Manorbier Community Council Meeting - 17th January 2006
It was dramatic but not a memorable evening with only five crew members ( councillors ) attending and with the Admiral ( Councillor Wales ) being away on shore leave the steerage was left to the Captain ( Councillor Coleman as the chairman ). It was not plain sailing during the first half hour when events of previous voyages ( Council Minutes ) needed to be agreed. The ships log ( the Minutes ) has to be both true and accurate a record of the events and a captain has to sign to say that is so if the crew have voted for it. But one of the crew did not agree with the written log and contested the accuracy by saying that the Admiral's remarks had been omitted. Now the Captain and two crew members ( Councillors Kidney and Johns ) could not remember the Admirals words or of their fellow crew member ( Councillor Calver ) raising a point following the Admiral signing the log ( minutes ) for the passage ( meeting ) of the 6th December 2005. The First Mate ( Councillor Davies ) could remember it all and even the attending ships passengers ( the public ) could remember the very words of the Admiral and also the crew members' point of order.
Now rather than keep our readers all at sea perhaps we should look at the Admiralty Handbook ( or Standing Orders ) that all Admirals, Captains and Crew members have to accept before partaking in any nautical aspects with this ship of state. ( And what a ship state their in, with increasing legal fees, possible fraud about the village appraisal and their massive hike in the precept. The word 'precept' is not actually a nautical word - it does mean, to you and me, the cost of running the old rust bucket. )
The Handbook is produced by the National Association of Local Councils and has been adopted by the Manorbier Community Council. It regulates the way the council works. Each Councillor ( or Crew Member, has a copy ) and would not have their sea legs without them or even be able to behave in the way that the Navy requires.
Section 63 and 64 are of interest and are under the heading of INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS, which appears on Page 24, they are,
63. A member may for the purpose of his duty as such ( but not otherwise), inspect any document in possession of the Council or a committee, and if copies are available shall, on request, be supplied for the like purposes with a copy.
64. All Minutes kept by the Council and by any committee shall be open for the inspection of any member of the Council.
Now following the Admiral signing the Log on the 6th December, Crew member Calver raised a Point of Order. Such a point must take precedence over all other business and should be dealt with immediately.
In essence the so called Grievance/Discipline Committee, or as it is now termed the Staffing Committee, and having been in existence for more than well over a year has never reported back to the full Council. A considerable number of their meetings have taken place, its name has undergone change and for many months was not created properly but it continued to function.
Now Crew member Calver had asked for the committee minutes on two other previous meetings when the Admiral was skipper. The Admiral firstly stated the committee Logs ( minutes ) had been issued and seen by the whole crew, but this was false and three crew members ( The First Mate, Midshipman Meyrick and Calver ) said so. The second time they should have been produced but the Admiral gave the impression that it was all too much bother and dismissed the crew members request. So now there had been three warnings of icebergs ahead and the latest Log was being disputed. Now with alarm bells ringing and the Admiral away it was a problem for the Captain to deal with.
Come to think of it, maybe, because the Admiral always skips over the topic, could this be why a ship 'driver' is called a skipper.
Now there's another crew member with a preference for putting the statutory items foremost and should the ship be holed below the waterline he could spring into action, as is the custom, without taxing his overall ability. However, these needs could not be met on this voyage as he was also on shore leave. So things might be looking bleak. But in case our readers don't know it the Section 64 of the Admiralty Handbook is printed in bold type. To put it simply this means that the requirement has been laid down by Act of Parliament and is therefore a statutory requirement.
So now we have a Admiral who chose to ignore the statute on the 6th December, a Captain who would rather the whole thing would disappear and a Crew member very unhappy as his requests have selectively been ignored. Even though the crew member is well within his rights, the Admiral with the support of some of the crew have violated the Law.
It remains to be seen if a Council request to produce the minutes of the committee will deliver the goods in February.
So will the ship of state just plough on? Warnings have been given and icebergs are ahead. Will the helmsman, whoever it may be, ignore things once again? Can the Admiral recover from his blatant disregard of statutory rights? Will the ships company flounder with the ship? Is she holed below the waterline? Can anybody be saved? Are there any, or enough, life rafts?
Could make a good film but, sorry, no orchestra to play as she sinks.
Rose DeWitt Bukater
Guest writer
Twelve minutes past seven, pm
WEBSITE COMMENT
Here we have a situation whereby some of the councillors are a committee and they have never reported back to the full council. A council decision is not made by a committee as only the council itself has the duty to decide and then by democratic vote. Now if the committee consider themselves able to work without reference to the corporate body they are working outside of any council mandate. The terms of this committee has not been defined by the council so it must be assumed that within the council there is a group acting independently of the council and moreover they, by their actions, refuse to let the full council members know just what they are up to.
The citizens served by this Council deserve much better from this motley crew and with apologies to Admiral Lord Nelson, ...... Manorbier expects every councillor to do their duty.
Can we expect two councillors and the vice-chairman all to suffer from amnesia on the same night. If they can't remember what is a most important aspect, a Point of Order, then can the public be expected to pay their ever increasing community charge element that goes to pay for the workings of the forgetful Community Council.
Their precept increase is well above the inflation index and these additional moneys are required, in part, to support some legal eagles. So, how does this help the community? Just what do the Council achieve for the people?
There is an investigation ongoing by the police into suspected fraud over the community appraisal exercise. How does that benefit the people?
There is the dispute and possible court case over the analysis of the village appraisal and it could take a vast chunk of the community charge payers levy for 2006/07.
There is a requirement by the solicitor to have statements from Cllrs Griffiths and Wales and also the Clerk and from Allison of the Pembrokeshire County Council. Can somebody tell us why these three locals are being asked for statements?
And now we have a rogue committee, where only three councillors know about it and the remainder don't. Not exactly best corporate governance is it, but its all being done in our name.