Council Crisis: Dirty tricks and some correspondence - Updated

As we begin Week Three of the crisis sparked by the publication of the WAO's public interest reports, attention is now being focused on the precise nature of the chief executive's extended holiday/leave of absence/exile/voluntary suspension/temporary withdrawal from office, and the council is being asked to explain any terms and conditions that come attached to this mutually agreed arrangement.

A reader writes that he had never truly appreciated the power of the pen until he sent a letter to the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, late last week calling for the chief executive of Carmarthenshire County Council to be suspended. Within a couple of hours he learned that Mr James would be "stepping aside" to spend more time with his legal text books.

Llanelli AM Nia Griffith (Lab) also received several letters from concerned constituents, and to her credit they received a speedy response. The replies are similar, and include passages which regurgitate parts of an earlier statement issued by Labour's press office in Cardiff about getting the Welsh Local Government Association (Deputy Presiding Officer Kevin Madge) to carry out a review. She also makes it clear that she thinks the council should accept the WAO reports in full.

The really interesting bit comes in the middle where Ms Griffith tells her correspondents that:

In checking up on the procedures, I understand that the Leader has discovered that in Carmarthenshire County Council the Leader does not have the power to suspend the Chief Executive, but that this is a decision for full council. That is why you read in the Western Mail on Thursday that  he has asked him “to stand down voluntarily”.  I understand that the Leader will be taking this matter to full council. (technically providing he gets the support from the Executive Board  – support which will be forthcoming from the Labour members but I cannot speak for the Independent members) .

The council's constitution has been chopped and changed, amended and "improved" so many times in its short life that it resembles the sort of fence you see on some Welsh farms. A bit of old tractor here, a pallet or two there, some wire, a door and a great deal of bailer twine holding the thing together, and the effect of most of these enhancements is to say that the chief executive will decide what should be done.

On the subject of suspensions, however, this abused document is clear:

“The Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer may be suspended whilst an investigation takes place into alleged misconduct. That suspension will be on full pay and last no longer than two months. No other disciplinary action may be taken in respect of any of the above officers except in accordance with a recommendation in a report made by a designated independent person appointed by the Council’s Investigation Committee.” (Rules of Procedure, Officer Employment Rules)

The Head of Paid Service is the chief executive, by the way. Having dealt with suspension pending investigation of alleged misconduct, the constitution goes on to explain that dismissal requires the approval of the full council.

We can only guess that this interesting interpretation of the rules came from Mr James and Mrs Rees Jones, and that it was supported by Meryl, Pam and the rest of the Independent contingent.

The final bit suggests that Kevin Madge is or was planning to put a motion before full council to suspend Mr James with the proviso that it would have to be supported by the Independents. Hell is more likely to suffer a cold snap before that happens.

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Update

It seems that the rules which apply are not the council's constitution in this case, but a whole handbook dedicated to the conditions of service for local authority chief executives produced by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Local Authority Chief Executives (how many other jobs have an 88 page document setting out an employee's rights?). A copy last updated in 2009 can be found here.

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And finally....

Back over in Pembrokeshire Cllr Jacob Williams has written a fascinating report on Friday's extraordinary council meeting, complete with its dirty tricks, stooges, envelope in the back of the limo and coup d'etat. 

For those of you like Cneifiwr who had not watched the whole 5 hours of action, an interesting new fact to have emerged is that Mr Timothy Kerr QC wrote not one but two separate legal advices to Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire in September and November 2013.

Pembrokeshire's councillors will now be allowed to see the documents, albeit in redacted form.