Deja Vu

A warning to St Florence Community Council

I see from the report on manorbier.com that County Cllr Calver is interfering with the running of St Florence Community Council.  Be warned St Florence!  He is using the same tactics on you as he has used to bog down the operation of  Manorbier CC, namely the relationship between Council and Community Association and declarations of interest. If you let him succeed you could end up in as big a mess as Manorbier CC.

Don't listen to Cllr Calver, he has his own agenda and he is certainly not an expert in the regulations governing the operation of community councils.

He says on his website (for those of you who are not already aware manorbier.com is Cllr Calver's website) that  "The procedure that councillors must adopt is clearly set out in their Standing Orders of the Council" (sic). I am not familiar with St Florence CC Standing Orders and there may or may not be a standing order relating to declaration of interest but the legal document that covers declarations of interest is the "Conduct of Members (Model Code of Conduct) (Wales) Order 2001 (SI 2001/2289) (W117)" which all councillors sign up to when taking office.

Cllr Calver's website again " Councillors were asked by Cllr Calver on several occasions to declare what their interest was..."  It is not the prerogative of anyone to ask councillors about their interests nor should they be allowed to do so in Council.  The rules state that a declaration of interest is a matter solely for the individual councillor concerned to decide .  Councillors can, of course, seek guidance from the Clerk and Chairman and, as a final authority, the Monitoring Officer of Pembrokeshire CC.  It is not up to other councillors or members of the public to question an individual councillor on their interests.

If some councillors also sit on the committee of the Community Association then there may be conflicts of interest so I suggest that St Florence CC would be well advised to write to the Monitoring Officer explaining the situation in full and ask for his advice and guidance.  Even if interests exist the Standards Committee of Pembrokeshire CC can still grant dispensations.  Again ask the Monitoring Officer.

Cllr Calver states "when an interest becomes apparent a councillor must declare an interest, disclose the nature of the interest and then withdraw from the meeting".  Although the first part of this statement is true the part about withdrawing from the meeting does not always apply.  There are certain types of interest where the councillor with the interest can remain in the meeting and speak on the subject but not vote.  Again get unbiased advice from the Monitoring Officer, don't listen to Cllr Calver's distorted interpretation of the rules.

Finally, why do you allow this man to speak at your Council meetings? He has no right to do so!

The law says that only members of your Council should speak while the Council meeting is underway. Exceptions to this rule are if someone, not a member of the Council, is on rare occasions allowed to speak at the invitation of the Chairman or by a resolution in Council. Cllr Calver is not a member of your Council so when your Council is in session he has no more rights than any other member of the public. He has no extra rights by virtue of being a County Councillor.  Again, you can confirm this with the Monitoring Officer.

Be on your guard St Florence CC.

Speak to the Monitoring Officer without delay and get these matters sorted out.

Good luck.

Happy Christmas Manorbier

As the season of goodwill to all men (and women) is now upon us I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and productive New Year.  May you receive the blessings and good fortune that you wish for others.  Remember that after your family and friends the next most important thing is the community that you live in.

Manorbier Taxpayer - xenophobe?

The semi-literate xenophobic rantings of "Manorbier Taxpayer" in his post of 13th December http://manorbiertaxpayer.blogspot.com/2006/12/i-am-not-on-benefits.html
really does mark an all time low in Manorbier blogging.

Since it's obviously not possible to conduct a serious debate with someone who holds these extreme and bigoted views I won't waste my time trying. Instead I'll pose a few questions that he might like to consider and perhaps provide some answers to.

Back in 2004 when the 10 Community Council seats were up for elections only 7 people could be bothered to put their names forward! Where were you when our community needed your help?

It is to my deep regret that I didn't come forward for the Council at that time. It was only when the issue of Night Firing arose and I became aware of the digraceful conduct of certain councillors that I decided I should try to do something, which was why I set up this blog.

You say you think the Council should do things properly. So who should decide what constitutes doing things properly - you?

I suspect what you mean is if the Council do things you approve of that is proper, but if they do things you don't approve of that isn't proper.

A rather self-centred attitude don't you think?

You'll no doubt be pleased, as we all are, that the Christmas tree is now standing.

Did you take up my suggestion that you should volunteer to help? I doubt it.

The rest of your rant doesn't merit any reponse except to say that I feel a sense of sadness and shame that my village can harbour someone with your views!

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Caveat:

Although, in the above post I have treated "Manorbier Taxpayer" at face value I do have serious doubts. I have strong suspicions that the person behind this blog is not the semi-literate they would have us think. So, reader, I urge you to look on all blogs(even my own) with the critical eye of experience and judge them for yourself , as independently and impartially as you can.

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For the benefit of "Manorbier Taxpayer" xenophobia = an intense or irrational dislike or fear of strangers

The Welfare State Whingers

The latest post by someone who calls himself "Manorbier Tax Payer" is typical of what I call the 'Welfare State Whingers'.  They are very hot on their 'rights' and are quick to hold out their hands for any benefits that are going and expect some mysterious 'they' to do everything for them without wanting to lift a finger to help themselves or others.  When it comes to the 'responsibilities' that go with 'rights' they suddenly become very quiet and sit on their hands.

 

"Manorbier Tax Payer's" current whinge is that the Manorbier Christmas tree was not put up as quickly as he would have liked.  He puts the sole blame on the Community Council who "...cant be bothered to put "OUR" xmas tree up" (sic).

 

Can I suggest he shows the Christmas spirit that he thinks is lacking in the Community Council and gets up of his backside and volunteers to lend a hand to erect the tree, it is after all YOUR tree!  That way you can enjoy Christmas in the knowledge that you have done at least one thing this year to help your local community.

 

It only takes a telephone call to the Chairman and an hour of your precious time.

 

Why Didn't One of You Take the Minutes Then? cont...

 

I really seem to have hit a raw nerve with Cllr Martin Davies judging by his latest post (4:28 pm 9th December) on his blog "Manorbier Life".  It appears he is so short of logical and reasoned argument that he is forced to descend to the level of personal abuse, calling me 'yellow' and a 'village idiot', always the sign of someone on very shaky ground with no valid arguments left.  Still, if it makes him feel better it doesn't upset me, so you go ahead Cllr Davies bring the council into disrepute again - I've been called worse things by much better men than you and I'm still going strong!

 

With his wide knowledge of the law, Cllr Davies should be familiar with the rules surrounding the working of community councils but when it comes to the duties of the vice-chairman it seems that he falls flat on his face!

 

Let me try, once again, to enlighten him.  The only extra duty falling to the vice-chairman is, as the title suggests, to chair meetings in the absence of the chairman, nothing more nothing less.  With this one exception he has exactly the same responsibilities and duties as every other member of the council.  So with that in mind one has to ask why, when Cllrs Davies, Calver and Kidney declined to take the minutes, Cllrs Davies and Calver thought there was nothing untoward or sinister about their decision. On the other hand when Cllr Coleman also declined this was to be interpreted as the sign of some dark plot?  A  rather warped and biased point of view don't you think?

 

Since both Cllr Davies and Cllr Calver seemed to get so hot under the collar when Cllr Coleman declined to take the minutes and failed to 'help' the council I must repeat my original question.

 

If they were so convinced that there was some dire plot afoot then why didn't either Cllr Davies or Cllr Calver put a stop to it by stepping in to volunteer to take the minutes themselves and 'help' the council? 

 

This is a very simple and easily answered question but one which seems to cause them considerable difficulty! 

 

According to Cllr Davies their only reason for declining to take the minutes was because Cllr Coleman wasn't prepared to and they weren't going to do something Cllr Coleman wouldn't do! 

 

I really can't believe that they are both such timid sheep that they meekly follow Cllr Coleman's lead in everything!

 

 

Why Didn't You Offer to Take the Minutes Then?

I see that Cllrs Davies and Cllr Calver have both rushed to publish their distorted, but strangely similar, versions of the December meeting of the Community Council.

Let me put the record straight. I have spoken to 3 of the 5 councillors present when the meeting opened and to 1 member of the public, their account is a little different.

The Chairman opened the meeting and announced that because Cllr Neads, the Proper Officer, was unable to attend the meeting he was asking councillors if one of them would volunteer to take the minutes. There were no volunteers so the Chairman had no option but to adjourn the meeting(it is a legal requirement that minutes are taken at council meetings).

Both Cllr Calver and Cllr Davies suggest in their posts that someone had something to hide.

If they were genuinely concerned that there was some dire plot underway they had a simple and effective way to forestall it. One of them could have offered to take the minutes but, strangely, they too declined to do so, I wonder why!

So I repeat the question I posed in the title of this blog.

Why didn't either Davis or Calver offer to take the minutes.

If, as they seem to suggest, there is some guilt attached to not wanting to take the minutes of the meeting then it attaches equally to them. Perhaps they are the ones with something to hide! Think about it.