Minutes:
Councillor R G Boyce asked the Leader of the Council what the cost for the complaint against him for predetermination, both actual and Officer time was up to now. He also asked the Leader to confirm what statute, common law or Council constitution said how a Member should vote. In response the Leader of the Council advised that following a discussion with the Monitoring Officer he had agreed that the overall cost for all the complaints including the pre-determination complaint during a 12-month period including officer time was north of £50,000. There was no time recording for time spend on each complaint. The Leader was unable to answer the second question raised and as it was a technical question, but he would arrange for a written response to be sent to Councillor Boyce.
Councillor W Stamp referred to Minute 967 of the Council meeting held on 28 May 2020 quoting from it “…meetings of the Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG) be restarted and its membership be extended to include members of the Independent Group”. She asked the Leader of the Council how many members of the Working Group were Independent and if he accepted her point (referring to the word ‘members’ in this Minute) that if an ‘s’ was added it meant more that one. In response the Leader of the Council advised that he would revisit this Minute and if a mistake had been made he would speak to all non-aligned Members to seek an appointment onto that Committee.
Councillor C Morris referred to a comment made by
the Leader of the Council at the Council meeting in November 2019
and read an extract from an email between the Leader and Lead Legal
Specialist and Monitoring Officer referencing a loan. Councillor Morris asked the Leader if the email
was admittance that he had made a loan but claimed it was for
altruistic purposes. In response the
Leader advised that he had made a statement regarding this matter
by which he would stand, and the Officer had left the Council of
their own fruition
volition[1]to take up a promotion in another authority. Not satisfied with the answer received, Councillor
Morris continued seeking further response to his question, to which
the Leader repeatedly advised that he had answered the
question. Councillor Mrs M E Thompson
raised a point of order that the asker of the question was entitled
to an answer even if that may not be the answer they
wanted. Councillor Morris then raised a
further question regarding Councillor Fluker not cooperating with
the Monitoring Officer and this being a breach of the Code of
Conduct. In response the Leader advised
he would not answer that question because it must be the subject of
a complaint and confirmed that he had answered the earlier question
raised. During the discussion that
followed the Chairman repeatedly asked Councillor Morris to
refrain, advising that the Leader had responded to his
question. At this point and in
accordance with Procedure Rules the Chairman asked that Councillor
Morris be muted.
Councillor C Mayes asked if the Leader of the Council would support the reset and recovery bid being put into Essex County Council (ECC). In response, the Leader clarified that the question related to the Maldon High Street area and confirmed that he did support it. He advised that he had spoken to John Whittingdale MP who supported the bid and also ECC asking them to get behind the bid.
Councillor R G Boyce left the meeting during this item of business and did not return.