We investigated allegations about the Member including that he had breached the Council’s Code of Conduct by repeatedly treating and/or communicating with the Council’s Clerk and fellow Councillors in a manner which lacked respect and amounted to bullying and/or harassment. Further, that his conduct, both with regards to the Clerk, his fellow Councillors and our office had brought his office and/or the Council into disrepute and that he had failed to comply with the our requests when we investigated.
Following our investigation, we decided it was appropriate to refer the Member’s conduct to the Adjudication Panel for Wales for determination. The Tribunal unanimously found that the Member had acted in breach of the Code of Conduct. The Tribunal said that it was difficult to imagine an individual who was any less suited to public life than the Member due to his repeated and flagrant inability to behave in a civil, courteous and respectful manner. His conduct towards the Clerk and some of his fellow councillors was very poor and he had demonstrated no respect for the role and function of our office.
The Tribunal found: the Member had failed, on a number of occasions, to treat the Clerk and his fellow councillors with consideration and respect in breach of paragraph 4(b) of the Code; the Member’s actions in relation to specific named events and correspondence, amounted to bullying and/or harassment in breach of paragraph 4(c) of the Code: the Member had brought his office and/or authority into disrepute in breach of paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Code and he had failed to comply with our requests when we investigated in breach of paragraph 6(2) of the Code.
The Case Tribunal concluded, by unanimous decision, that the Member should be disqualified from acting as a councillor for any authority for a period of 4 years in respect of all matters concurrently. The Tribunal’s full decision can be found on the Adjudication Panel for Wales’ website here
The former councillor has the right to ask the court for permission to appeal the APW’s decision.