13 February (Part 2) - Not another complaint!
It seems to be the day for complaints.
Three in one day. One from an illiterate who accused me of publishing an email without the author’s permission, then
I was called a you know what for not
believing that Bexley Council had IRA connections when no evidence had been
forthcoming, and finally one from Michael Barnbrook who said I had not mentioned his
complaint about Councillor Cheryl Bacon.
I told him that I had but he said there were two.
So for those who still have the stomach for pursuing
the Councillor Fothergill
business here is another of Michael’s attempts to tie Bexley Council in knots.
It seems to me he is handing Councillor Fothergill grounds for appeal against
the Misconduct verdict on a plate. It’s another well argued case that Bexley
Council has ignored its own rules. Don’t they always?
Dear Mr Moore,
I wish to register a formal complaint against Councillor Cheryl Bacon.
My complaint relates to her failure to comply with the Members’ Code of Conduct
Complaints Sub - Committee Rules of Procedure at a meeting of the Members Code
of Conduct Complaints Sub - Committee held on 10th December 2015.
The Rules of Procedure 3. Conduct of the Hearing state:
3.1 Subject to paragraph 3.2 below, the order of business will be as follows:
(d) Chairman’s introduction of Members of the MCSC, the Monitoring Officer, the
Independent Person, the Investigating Officer, the Complainant, the Subject
Member and their representative.
(f) to receive representations from Members of the MCSC, the Monitoring Officer,
and/or the Subject Member as to whether any part of the hearing should be held
in private and/or whether any documents (or parts thereof) should be withheld from the public.
(g) determine whether the public/press are to be excluded from any part of the
meeting and/or whether any documents (or parts thereof) should be withheld from the public/press.
3.2 The Chairman of the MCSC may exercise their discretion and amend the order
of business, where they consider that it is expedient to do so in order to
secure the effective and fair consideration of any matter.
I was present at the Sub Committee meeting on 10th December 2015.
The Chairman, Cheryl Bacon, did not introduce the Members of the MCSC, the
Monitoring Officer, the Independent Person, the Investigating Officer, the
Complainant, the Subject Member and their representative.
The Chairman, Cheryl Bacon, did not receive representations from Members
of the MCSC, the Monitoring Officer and/or the Subject Member as to whether any
part of the hearing should be held in private and/or whether any documents (or
parts thereof) should be withheld from the public, prior to excluding the public from the meeting.
The Chairman, Cheryl Bacon, knowing that the Subject Member, Councillor Maxine
Fothergill and her representative, Councillor June Slaughter, were present in
the building, started the meeting without their attendance, thereby failing to
give them the opportunity to make any representations as to whether any part of
the hearing should be held in private and/or any documents (or parts thereof)
should be withheld from the public/press.
The Chairman, Cheryl Bacon, exercised her discretion to amend the order of
business without appropriate grounds that it was expedient to do so.
A Freedom of Information Request No. 2754396, requested the reasons why Councillor
Bacon considered it expedient to amend the order of business of the meeting on 10th December 2015.
The Council has failed to provide any reasons and none are contained in the
minutes of the meeting held on 10th December 2015.
The decision by the Chairman, Cheryl Bacon, to exclude the public from the
meeting, prior to any introductions and representations, was an arbitrary
decision made by her alone and therefore a material failure to follow procedure,
as set out in the Rules of Procedure for the Members Code of Conduct Complaints
Sub - Committee.
Rule 6.3(a) of the Rules of Procedure states that an appeal may only be raised
on grounds including a material failure to follow procedure.
By failing to follow procedure, Councillor Cheryl Bacon has given Councillor
Maxine Fothergill, the Subject Member, grounds to successfully appeal her
conviction, grounds that would not have been available to her, had Councillor
Bacon carried out her role of Chairmen, according to the correct procedures.
I consider this to be serious case of Misconduct by Councillor Cheryl Bacon, not
only because she has given Councillor Fothergill good grounds of appeal that she
would not have been entitled to, but because she also exceeded her
authority by excluding myself and other members of the public from the meeting
before she was legally entitled to do so.
It is also apparent from the minutes of the meeting, that the decision to exclude
the public and press from part of the meeting, was made prior to the meeting and
not during the meeting itself, which is a serious breach of procedure.
I am therefore requesting a full investigation into the professional conduct of
Councillor Bacon, as Chairman of the meeting and should any investigation result
in disciplinary proceedings, I am prepared to attend those proceedings in order
to give evidence.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Barnbrook