A year-old minutes of STC meeting…

It took STC a year to publish minutes from February 2019 meeting. As I predicted- another Labour Party councillor breached S85 of Local Government Act 1972 and should be removed from Council. We could only speculate why STC delayed publishing of this document but we won’t do that. Instead- we invite you to read our analysis of this murky situation.

Quote:

2020/7TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES AND REASONS FOR ABSENCE.

Apologies for absence had been received or were tendered on behalf of;

Cllr. F.Gobey – Long term serious illness as previously reported 

Cllr. P.Harford (didn’t even bother to send apologies?)

Cllr. J.Lewis – Other commitments 

Fact- nowhere in minutes of previous meetings public was informed about F.Gobey alleged illness. Fact- no one at the February meeting mentioned that. That note after F.Gobey name was added even though no one mention reasons for the absence of this councillor at the meeting. That is not all- since 19th February 2019, (the moment when F.Gobey missed more than 6 months of Council meetings) 12 months passed. In these 12 months, F.Gobey didn’t show at a single meeting. That is a year and a half from 2 year period of this term of office when F.Gobey was absent from meetings. Im asking Labour Party voters- is that good enough for you??

At what point F.Gobey will admit that he is not up to the task and resign? I’ve been in contact with Election Team at BDC and Monitoring Officer at BDC. Both confirmed that they are waiting for confirmation of more than 6-month absence from the STC Town Clerk. Yet- STC do nothing and cover for F.Gobey. As a matter of fact- The Local Government Act allows for more than 6-month absence if (and this is BIG if):

quote:

“unless the failure was due to some reason approved by the authority before the expiry of that period” 

If reasons were not submitted then:

quote:

“(council member) cease to be a member of the authority.”

My point is- nowhere in the minutes there is a note that our local authority approved the absence of F.Gobey and under current law F.Gobey should be removed from Council not now but MONTHS AGO. I spoke with more experienced councillors from other constituencies (isn’t this sick that I can get more information about council mechanics from people living far away from Shirebrook that from Shirebrook councillors?) and they confirmed- reasons HAVE to be noted in minutes, they can’t be “secret”. And I read all minutes twice- no mention of F.Gobey approval for absence.

I hear often that people in power complain that younger generations don’t participate in democratic processes. How can we participate when older generations block access, even when they are to sick to do their job? What is the point of holding to position when you can’t do the simplest thing like turning on a computer and joining a meeting on “zoom”??? Literally- there is no simplest thing to do!!!

I’m a man of honour. I would rather resign than hold on to a position I’m not fit to do. But that is me… There is no way to understand F.Gobey and his Party colleagues intentions. Also- there is no way to ask them about it- they ignore all questions from the public and media. Labour Party style!

This whole situation is a conundrum for me. On one side- I understand that forcing out F.Gobey (as I did with two other Labour Party councillors) could seem like a bad move. On another side- why I should ignore that the Labour Party disregards fact that some of their councillors are simply not there to work on behalf of Shirebrook? Should I be ruthless and relentless or should I let it slide due to fact that F.Gobey clearly have bigger problems now?

Every time I have a problem like that- I sleep on it. And after a good night sleep, I decided that the honourable way out is to let it go- I just don’t want to add stress on top of the alleged sickness. You can disagree, you can think that I’m weak and in politics, there is no such thing as empathy. But as I underlined this countless times- I’m not a politician. I’m a good guy who wants to do good things- that’s all.

I hope that someone from Labour will read that and talk with councillor F.Gobey to do an honourable thing: resign as soon as possible, even before May 2020 elections so Council could save money on by-elections later.

I hope the Labour Party find strength in themselves and allow younger people who want to work for the people of Shirebrook to join the Council. The worst thing they could do is to deny others the opportunity to work just out of spite…

Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com

Lead picture: pexels.com

PS There is a lot more to dig out from minutes of previous meetings but I had to leave it for another occasion. There is just too much to discuss to fit into one article. IM already starting to write the next article with all the interesting facts from the rest of the documents so check S247 next week.