Council crisis: Stepping aside

Update

Thank you to everyone who has commented on this in the last couple of days, and also for the lively debate about Mr Kerr and his envelope on the previous post.

The threat made in Pembrokeshire would involve formal complaints to the Ombudsman for Public Services alleging breach of the councillors' code of conduct. The last time this was used in Carmarthenshire as far as Cneifiwr is aware was when the chief executive made five separate complaints against Cllr Siân Caiach a couple of years ago. He was unsuccessful on every count.

Mrs Linda Rees Jones hinted that she might have another go when she told Cllr Caiach last week that she should have declared an interest in view of her role as witness in the libel trial.

There was also a hint of what may come in one of the recent flurry of bonkers council press releases when it said:

Can Plaid Cymru not wait to be in possession of all the facts before they make their minds up, or have they already done so?

There will be no need for an envelope in Carmarthenshire, as all of the planning for the extraordinary meeting on 27 February will have been done in off the record meetings and teleconferences well in advance.

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It is worth spending a few moments digesting the implications of last night's announcement that Mark James would be stepping aside from his duties as chief executive of Carmarthenshire County Council.

What we have is a very shabby compromise struck to try to keep the Labour-Independent coalition together.

The council's constitution provides for the suspension of senior officers under its Rules of Procedure (Officer Employment):

The Head of Paid Service [i.e. Mr James, ed], 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.

Although there is to be an investigation by the police, as far as the council is concerned there is no alleged misconduct, and Mr James has not been suspended.


Mr James will therefore remain on full pay for the duration of the police investigation, and as we have seen in Caerphilly, that could take a very long time indeed.

What has not been made clear by the council is whether he will still have access to the council's IT system or council offices. Because he has effectively taken a prolonged sabbatical without any suggestion of misconduct, there is presumably nothing to prevent him from pulling the strings and managing matters from his new vantage point. Given that the team he hand-picked, promoted and rewarded will now be running the show, Mr James's control is likely to remain undiminished.

That includes the council's acting Head of Law, Mrs Linda Rees Jones, who wrote to councillors last week saying, "As you will know a complaint has been made to the police alleging misconduct in public office by me in connection with this matter". 

That is not enough to prevent her from remaining in post and dispensing advice and warnings from the podium, however. Last week, it will be recalled, she suggested that Cllr Siân Caiach should consider where she stands on the Members Code of Conduct in view of her role as a witness in the libel trial.

Peter Hughes Griffiths, leader of the Plaid group on the council, reacted with the following statement last night:

"Cllr Peter Hughes Griffiths, leader of the Plaid Cymru opposition group on Carmarthenshire CC welcomed the announcement that Chief Executive Mark James is standing down pending the result of a police inquiry, but condemned the failure of the council's Leader, Labour councillor Kevin Madge, to take decisive action.

As a fortnight has passed since the Welsh Auditor published his report accusing the council of two accounts of "unlawful" action, the inquiry could potentially be compromised, said Cllr Hughes Griffiths.

"This confirms the seriousness of the situation and fully justifies the firm stance that Plaid Cymru has constantly taken for the past two weeks.  It would have been totally improper for the Chief Executive to remain at his desk pending the outcome of the police inquiry. 

"However, this development has only happened following intense pressure from Plaid and by public opinion. As Leader, Labour's Cllr Kevin Madge failed to take decisive action when the damning Welsh Audit Office reports were published a fortnight ago, and may have compromised the police inquiry by not suspending the person at the centre of the inquiry. 

"The fact that Mr James is standing down for the duration of the inquiry "by mutual agreement" shows, once again, that the so-called Leader of this council was too weak to suspend him.

Cllr Madge should recognise this and stand down as Leader."

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Meanwhile the dust is settling from yesterday's debacle in Pembrokeshire. An acute observer on this blog noted that Mr Kerr's role yesterday was not that of an independent, impartial legal adviser, but counsel for the chief executive and Cabinet.

A day and a night away from the Inns of Court in London will not have been cheap, and Cneifiwr's legal advisers reckon that the going rate for someone like Mr Kerr and what he likes to term his "humble opinion" is between £6,000 and £8,000 for an event of this kind.