Pattern?  What pattern?  (see post below)

http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/axminster_town_council_code_of_conduct_finding.pdf:

Code of Conduct Finding

An investigation into a complaint by District Councillor Twiss (Conservative Council and Whip)  about Axminster Town Councillor Cllr Hayward (known for his independent views)  has concluded that Cllr Hayward breached the councillor Code of Conduct.

In paragraph 4(a) of the Code of Conduct, it says: ‘You must treat others with courtesy and respect’. The Investigator found that, in an email to a group of councillors, Cllr Hayward was disrespectful towards a member of staff at the District Council.

His report states:

‘Treating people with courtesy and respect involves having regard for them and their feelings and showing politeness towards them. The requirement to treat a person with respect applies even if they are not present.

I found that three of Councillor Hayward’s emails were written in his capacity as a councillor. Having examined the content of these, I have found that…Councillor Hayward was disrespectful…He therefore failed to follow paragraph 4(a) of the Code of Conduct.’

In the Complaints Procedure, where there has been a finding of a breach of the Code of Conduct, it is possible to resolve the com

plaint to both the complainant and councillor’s satisfaction. In this instance, Cllr Hayward has withdrawn his disrespectful comments and

accepted that the officer was not as he described. Cllr Twiss has accepted this, although he would also have preferred Cllr Hayward to apologise for his disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour.

During the course of this complaint, Cllr Hayward stated his wish to make a counter complaint against Cllr Twiss, however there was not sufficient evidence to warrant further action.

This Finding will be posted on the Council’s website on the Standards Committee page under public notices.

Denise Lyon

Deputy Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer

7 May 2014

 

Note from EDA: For the record, here are some possibly disrespectful comments made publicly by Councillor Twiss. The second example comes from his letter to a local newspaper,  in his official capacity as Tory Party Whip.

… (about a councillor who used to be a Conservative but is now an Independent) “This is a bit rich coming from someone who now flies under a white flag having previously been a Conservative party Councillor and Whip who paraphrasing his wording presumably chanced his arm to get elected having jumped ship from one political group to another.”

….(about all Independent Councillors)  ”Invariably a single issue with ancillary directly related ones is the overriding reason for Independents standing, holding back progress and directly disadvantaging their communities by paying little attention to other matters as a result.”

EDA would be interested to know if there have been any formal complaints against Cllr Twiss, and if so, how they have been dealt with.

For the full version of Cllr Twiss’s letter, and more comment, go to  http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/have-whip-but-dont-ever-use-it/