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Agenda and draft minutes

Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 9 - Level 3, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham ME4 4TR. View directions

Contact: Teri Reynolds, Democratic Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

676.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Kemp.

677.

Record of meeting pdf icon PDF 199 KB

To approve the record of the meeting held on 7 December 2022.

Minutes:

The record of the meeting held on 7 December 2022 was agreed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman as correct.

678.

Urgent matters by reason of special circumstances

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

Minutes:

There were none.

679.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Significant Interests pdf icon PDF 371 KB

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Minutes:

Disclosable pecuniary interests

 

There were none.

 

Other significant interests (OSIs)

 

There were none.

 

Other interests

 

There were none.

680.

Exclusion of the press and public pdf icon PDF 111 KB

This report summarises the content of agenda item 6, which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of documents. 

Minutes:

It was agreed that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to agenda item 6 because consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as specified in agenda item 5,and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Committee considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

681.

Investigation of complaint - CCC/2022/009

This report sets out the investigation report prepared on behalf of the Monitoring Officer into complaint CCC/2022/009 and also the view of the Independent Person and seeks a decision on the complaint.

Minutes:

Discussion

 

The Committee considered the outcome of an investigation into a complaint that Councillor Adeoye had breached the Councillor Code of Conduct.

 

Before reaching a decision on this matter the Committee also considered the views of an Independent Person, in accordance with Section 28 of the Localism Act 2011.

 

Councillor Adeoye and the Complainant were invited to attend the meeting and address the Committee under its procedures for dealing with complaints about Councillor Conduct. Neither accepted this invitation.

 

Decisions

 

1)        The Committee agreed as a finding of fact that Councillor Adeoye did own the twitter account @sijuadewade and had not denied this.  It also determined that she had publicly accused the complainant of being responsible for another twitter account but had provided no explanation of why she believed that to be the case.  Lastly it determined that Councillor Adeoye had been invited to informally resolve the complaint by removing tweets associated with the complaint and providing an apology to the complainant, which she had not done in a timely manner.

2)        The Committee agreed that Councillor Adeoye had acted in breach of paragraphs 2.1(ii) and 7.1 of the Medway Council Member Code of Conduct.

 

3)        The Committee determined that because Councillor Adeoye had since deleted all tweets (including the related threads) and had provided the complainant with an apology, no further action would be taken on this matter.