MINEHEAD town council has been left in turmoil after three principal officers announced they were leaving and the newly-elected mayor, Cllr Craig Palmer, was reported to Somerset Council’s monitoring officer after claims that he had breached the town council’s code of conduct by disclosing confidential information.
This followed the bombshell resignation of council clerk Sam Rawle, who had held the post for three years.
She told the Free Press: “I resigned with great regret, but I could no longer work with Cllr Craig Palmer and with Cllr Mimi Palmer.”
The resignations of six councillors in a year has reduced the council to 10 elected members and the authority now has no deputy mayor - at the council’s annual meeting on Tuesday (May 23) there were no nominations for the post.
Assistant town clerk Brian Howe and administration assistant Julie Notley also announced their retirement on the day Ms Rawle revealed she had handed the mayor her resignation.
A fourth member of the office staff, a trainee, left several weeks ago.
If the council cannot find a replacement clerk, or a locum, by July 4 - the day Mr Howe leaves - there will be no qualified officers and the council will be unable to hold meetings.
Mr Howe, who has worked for the council for five years, told the Free Press that while the administrative side would be affected, the normal services provided by the council would carry on as usual under the leadership of operations manager Ben Parker.
On Tuesday, Cllr Palmer, the only nominee for mayor, was narrowly elected on a 5-3 vote with two abstentions.
Cllr Terry Venner, a town councillor for 25 years and several times mayor, said: “Losing a talented and hard-working set of officers is a tragedy for the council.
“We have lost four officers in six weeks and will suffer because of it.
“There are obviously problems and everyone has been affected by the underlying tensions in the council.
“Brian took over at a difficult time for the council.
“We were in a very dark place and he put us on the right track.
“With the temporary financial officer Andy Giles, Brian was the saviour of the council and we should thank him for everything he has done.
“Sam has been a breath of fresh air and has worked tirelessly to get things sorted and Julie has been invaluable doing all the paperwork and correspondence.
“We could not have wished for a better team and they will be missed by everyone.
“It is a tremendous loss and puts the council in a very difficult situation.”
A spokesperson for the board of the Minehead Business Improvement District (BID) confirmed this week that it had filed a formal complaint with Somerset Council’s democratic services monitoring officer claiming that Cllrs Craig and Mimi Palmer had breached the town council’s code of conduct by ‘disclosing information about the council which is either confidential or inaccurate’.
The spokesperson alleged that Cllr Craig Palmer had put a post on the anti-BID website ‘Kick Out Minehead BID’ reporting that the town council would be abstaining on voting in the forthcoming BID ballot for another five-year term.
She added: “That was a confidential matter which was discussed away from a public meeting in March and Cllr Palmer should not have disclosed that information.”
It was also claimed that Cllr Mimi Palmer ‘put various inaccurate comments on the anti-BID website including one that BID had not held an annual meeting when in fact it had, and that the town council paid for the Minehead Christmas lights when they were paid for by BID’.
Cllrs Craig and Mimi Palmer were invited to comment on the latest council developments and the BID complaint to the monitoring officer, but the Free Press had not yet received a response.