Three complaints against councillors will not be dealt with before the local elections next month – and they have made the process a “laughing stock”, according to a former leader.
Labour councillor Daniel Yates spoke out after a report to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Audit and Standards Committee at Brighton Town Hall.
He told councillors that it had not been possible for a standards panel to be held before the election campaign started on Friday 17 March.
The council received complaints about posts and exchanges on social media in January and February last year but the councillor concerned did not engage with the process, resulting in delays.
A report was presented to the committee on Tuesday (18 April) which said that the complaints should be decided by a standards panel.
Councillor Yates said: “The fact that the standards panel can in itself, by its lack of being able to form, help people avoid being judged for their breaches or potential breaches of the standards regime makes it a laughing stock.”
Councillors Yates said that new councillors should be encouraged to take up the training to enable them to sit on standards panels – and this would help remind them of the council’s code of conduct.
Green councillor Leo Littman said that more than a year of officer time and resources had gone into the complaints and councillors should help “speed up the process”.
He said: “If someone is not standing, this will just go away. The (councillor’s) actions will never be heard by a jury of their peers. This is unfortunate.”
The committee was told that officials had “moved promptly” to deal with the complaints and the investigation was completed last year but the councillor concerned did not engage with the process, resulting in delays.
In one case, an unnamed councillor was asked to delete a comment made during a debate with a resident on social media by the council’s monitoring officer Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis but the councillor concerned did not respond.
The other two complaints lwere made about Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth who was not named in the report.
They were two of nine complaints made after online exchanges about a story in the Daily Mail last February.
The story was headlined: “Parent fury as Brighton primary schools tell staff NOT to say ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ and use ‘grown ups’ instead to avoid stigmatising ‘non-traditional’ families.”
In response to the Daily Mail article, the council said: “Recent reports claiming four Brighton schools are not allowing the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ to be used are untrue.”
Councillor Nemeth is not seeking re-election.
Most of us residents know, the whole Council is a laughing stock. Hopeless, profligate and not capable of providing basic services , whilst acting against the needs of its residents and businesses.
Seems very convenient to keep this hidden, sorry ‘delayed’ until after the election.
Time for a Standards investigation into the i360 scandal!