| SH.04 | In opening the Hearing, the Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure.
The Panel considered a report of an investigation under Section 66 of the Local Government Act 2000 into an allegation concerning Councillor Roger Brown. The allegation was that during a Resource and Performance Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 16 December 2008, specific comments made by Councillor Brown towards Mr S Morton constituted an ‘unreasonable and excessive personal attack’ on Mr Morton, and by behaving in this manner, Councillor Brown intimidated Mr Morton and failed to treat him with respect.
The Legal Advisor informed the Panel that it was not appropriate to consider an allegation of “intimidation” as the Code of Conduct specifically referred to intimidation being in terms of a person who is or is likely to be:-
(i)a complainant;
(ii)a witness; or
(iii)involved in the administration of any investigation or proceedings in relation to an allegation that a member has failed to comply with his/her Authority’s Code of Conduct.
The report concluded that Councillor Brown had breached the Code of Conduct under Paragraph 3(1) which states that “you must treat others with respect..”
Under the Hearings Procedure, the Panel considered whether or not there were any significant disagreements about the facts contained in the Investigator’s Report as set out under Paragraphs 4.1 to 4.4. Councillor Brown had issued a statement and reported to Members that he accepted Paragraphs 4.1 and 4.2 but not Paragraphs 4.3 and 4.4. Mr Malde was invited to respond. The Panel noted that Paragraph 4.1 and 4.2 were accepted by both parties.
With regard to Paragraph 4.3, on the balance of probabilities, the Panel could not say that Mr Morton knew the contents of the Policy on the Pay Protection Report which was discussed at a confidential meeting.
With regard to Paragraph 4.4, this dealt with the next stage of the procedure which deals with whether there was a failure to follow the Code of Conduct.
The Panel then considered whether or not Councillor Brown had failed to follow the Code of Conduct and concluded that he had breached the Code of Conduct under Paragraph 3(1) by failing to treat Mr Morton with respect.
Prior to considering a decision as to whether or not a sanction should be imposed, Councillor Brown referred to precedents in terms of how the Standards Board had dealt with similar cases and asked the Panel to give these due consideration.
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