Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

17.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

18.

Appointment of Independent Chair

To appoint an Independent Chair for agenda item 4 below – “Hearing into Complaint Under Code of Conduct”

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Ruth Wills, Independent Person, be appointed as the Chair for consideration of the matter referred to in Minute 19 below relating to “Hearing into Complaint Under Code of Conduct”.

19.

Hearing into Complaint Under Code of Conduct pdf icon PDF 181 KB

Report of the Director of Finance and Corporate Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Ethics Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Corporate Services which detailed a complaint made against Councillor G Williams (the “Subject Member”). The complainant alleged that the Subject Member had breached the Code of Conduct for Elected  and Co-opted Members.

 

A formal complaint was made on 19 February, 2019 that the Subject Member had posted inappropriate comments on social media which amounted to accusing Planning staff of corruption by deliberately taking the Planning Portal down and engaging in, and encouraging, a situation where it was suggested that Planning staff should be assaulted. The Complainant alleged that this behaviour breached paragraphs 3(i), (j) and (k) of the Code of Conduct for Elected and Co-opted Members and the Member/Officer Protocol.

 

A Stage One review of the complaint concluded that an Independent Investigator should be appointed to investigate the complaint. An Independent Investigator was duly appointed to carry out the investigation and he concluded that the Subject Member had breached the three paragraphs of the Code of Conduct as outlined above.

 

The Committee considered the following:-

 

a)  Presentation of the Investigation report

b)  Presentation of the Subject Member’s response to the Investigation report

c)  Summing up from both the Investigating Officer and the Subject Member

d)  Views and submissions of the Independent Person (Peter Wiseman)

 

The Committee then determined the complaint and concluded that there had been a breach of paragraphs 3 (i), (j) and (k).

 

Before determining what sanctions, if any, should be applied, the Subject Member and the Independent Person were invited to make representations as to whether or not any sanctions should be applied and, if so, what form they should take. The Committee noted that the application of any sanction should be reasonable and proportionate to the Subject Member’s behaviour.

 

RESOLVED that the conclusion of the Committee be as set out in the Decision Notice attached as Appendix1 to these Minutes. 

 

20.

Ruth Wills

Minutes:

On behalf of the Committee, the Chair, Councillor S Walsh, thanked Ruth Wills for chairing the meeting for the item of business referred to in Minute 19 above. 

21.

Any Other Items of Urgent Public Business

Minutes:

There were no  other items of urgent public business.