Local leaders in Thorpe St Andrew call for transparency
Thorpe St Andrew Town Council has recently faced an exodus of its senior employees
There are growing calls for transparency at a Norfolk town council as key members of staff abandon ship.
Councillors in Thorpe St Andrew have described a “worrying situation” after losing their chief executive and responsible financial officer (RFO).
The town council has recruited its third clerk in as many months and is in the process of correcting payments that are long overdue as a result of staff shortages.
Meanwhile, it has wiped important financial information from its website and shut discussion of staffing issues behind closed doors, as some councillors plead for “more openness”.
Thorpe St Andrew Town Council has recently faced an exodus of its senior employees including its CEO and RFO as well as a clerk who was parachuted in to fill their shoes.
This spurred councillors to arrange a private meeting to address “concerns and complaints” received in recent weeks and consider “future staffing arrangements” at the council – but this was poorly attended and members of the public were shut out of discussions.
Jo Bailey, a Labour member of the council, led the criticism of her fellow members.
Speaking at a meeting this week, she said: “We are not working together and we have to have more openness.
“We should be working as one body, one voice. But that is not happening.”
While the council has been understaffed, key payments have fallen through the cracks and some wages have gone unpaid for three months, a situation described by councillors as “very worrying”.
The issue remains shrouded in secrecy and the council has wiped many important documents from its website.
These include the minutes from recent full council meetings and finance committee, as well as records of expenditures exceeding £500, which it is required by law to make available to the public.
The council claims to be working through a backlog of work left by previous employees following the arrival of their latest locum clerk – Sarah Bristow, who was recently sacked by the Norfolk Association of Local Councils (NALC) for “gross misconduct”.
Ms Bristow is in the process of appealing her dismissal.