Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Sub Committee is invited to consider the report of the Investigating Officer and determine what action, if any, to take in respect of the complaint.

The Chair opened the meeting by explaining that this was a reconvened meeting of the Hearing Sub Committee to consider the code of conduct complaints made against Councillor David Jack of Sandbach Town Council.

As the directions had not been complied with by the specified date, on 15 November 2021 the Monitoring Officer issued further directions requiring provision of all material by
24 November 2021.  On that date Councillor Jack had provided the evidence he intended to reply on at the hearing.

The Chair explained the procedure which would be followed at the hearing was set out in the Council’s document ‘Arrangements for Dealing with Standards Complaints against Members’.

The Chair informed that Councillor David Jack was not present at the meeting and confirmed that the members of the Hearing Sub Committee had read the evidence provided by Councillor Jack.

As the adjourned meeting had taken place over two months ago, the Chair asked the members of the Hearing Sub Committee and officers present to declare if they had any declarations of interest to make.  No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair invited the Investigating Officer to present their report to the Hearing Sub Committee.

The Investigating Officer stated that he had been asked by the Council’s Monitoring Officer to investigate three separate complaints made against Councillor Jack, each alleging that he had broken the code of conduct for Sandbach Town Council.  He had initially been asked to investigate one complaint and subsequent to that investigation two further complaints were added to the investigations as it was felt appropriate to deal with all complaints together in one report.  Details of the complaints were set out in the Investigating Officer’s report.

The Investigating Officer confirmed that he had reviewed all the material submitted, which were mostly emails and social media posts and interviewed the complainants.  He had interviewed Councillor Jack in relation to the initial complaint and subsequently contacted him when the additional complaints were referred but Councillor Jack declined the opportunity to be interviewed in respect of them.

The Investigating Officer report had found that there was a failure to comply with paragraphs 4.10, 4.12 and 4.14 of Sandbach Town Council’s Code of Conduct and advised that the Hearing Sub Committee should consider whether or not there had been a breach of the code.

The Chair invited the Independent Person to provide their view on the matters being considered.

The Independent Person stated that they had considered the documentation provided very carefully and had listened to what had been said by the Investigating Officer and was of no doubt that Councillor Jack had been acting in his role as councillor in the correspondence provided, and there was evidence of non-compliance with the code of conduct and that they agreed with the conclusions of the Investigating Officers report and his comments made today.

The Chair adjourned the meeting to allow the members of the Hearing Sub Committee to consider the evidence presented to them and decide if the code of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.