Public unrest about the goings-on at Sandown Town Council continue. Earlier this month, a member of Sandown Town Council staff refused to distribute minutes to councillors following a public meeting.
Facebook post the ‘actions of scum’ says Clerk
After the admin for the ‘Rejunvenate Sandown’ (RS) Page on Facebook posted a message about the refusal, the clerk of Sandown Town Council sent an email (seen by OnTheWight) to all councillors, referring to “attacking easy targets, such as the admin assistant,” as the “actions of scum”.
Tina Bailey, the town clerk, also told councillors there had been “a poisonous attack” on her assistant and she was invoking a “Dignity at Work” policy regarding all telephone calls and email correspondence and would be “selective from this point on” as to who she deals with.
Poisonous attack?
To imagine someone being at the end of a “poisonous attack” would be disturbing, however, at the time of seeing the Facebook post and discussion (see below), OnTheWight couldn’t to find anything resembling that. We had asked the town clerk to share the text she believed was a “poisonous attack” but have received no response.
In the email to councillors, Ms Bailey went on to claim the incident had left her assistant, “in floods of tears questioning whether she wants to carry on working here”.
Rejunvenate Sandown: “Clerk gone well beyond her position”
After hearing about the email, the admin of the ‘Rejunvenate Sandown’ Page said, “The Clerk has gone well beyond her position to describe anybody in writing as scum”.
Rejuvenate Sandown’s original post read:
Following the recent Town Meeting, ex-Councillor, Bob Blezzard, who took the minutes, forwarded them to the Town Clerk for publishing and forwarding to Councillors in time for the Council’s Public Meeting on 9th April.
The new clerk’s assistant (a Councillor’s grand-daughter) informed him that they would not be published or circulated to Councillors.
Another example of the Town Council working against the Town rather than for it.
The clerk’s assistant – who Rejuvenate Sandown were mindful not to name – had, according to the comments on the post, left a comment in response simply stating, “lol”. Her comment has now been removed.
No resignations
The public meeting had been held at the beginning of the month by residents who are unhappy about the ‘lack of transparency’ over the 74% rise in their Council Tax precept.
There was a vote of No Confidence against six of the town town councillors, with residents calling for their resignations.
Following the meeting, OnTheWight wrote to all six councillors, but two weeks later had still not received a response from any of them.
Town clerk unresponsive
OnTheWight has also written to the clerk of Sandown Town Council about the about her email to councillors, but has still not received a response to our emails.
As well as asking her to point out the text of the “poisonous attack” we asked,
- On you being selective about who you deal with, can you detail your basis for selection please. Is it one or more particular people?
- On reflection do you regret using the phrase “actions of scum” at the end of the email?
The next Sandown Town Council meeting takes place this evening (Tuesday 27th March) at the Methodist Church Hall in York Road from 7pm.
Image: © outdoorelements/tinshack
