In the minutes for the Hemsworth Town Council Meeting dated 15 July 2021:
Online abuse of staff via social media
Resolved that the services of Lofthouse Solicitors be procured
Hemsworth Town Council have once again chosen to spend YOUR money instructing another firm of solicitors.
Ferret has been made aware that one of the Solicitors employed by Lofthouse is Mr Anthony Gale.
In 2018 Mr Anthony Gale the Solicitors Disciplinary Trust (SDT) found he had been “sloppy, lazy and careless” when acting in conveyances on the instructions of a third party without confirming them with the clients or conducting due diligence on the clients or transaction funds. The SDT fined him £10,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £28,000, and banned him from acting as a COLP or COFA, and working as a sole practitioner.
Ferret hopes Hemsworth Town Council are not taking his advice with regards to YOUR Waterpark.
Will we ever get a written response to our questions submitted to Independent Hemsworth Town Council and Mr Kenyon from the meeting held on 12 October 2021?
Looks like the perfect guy they would employ, bet he’s been hand picked already for the Waterpark job. The chargers about due diligence, sloppy, lazy and conveyances all would fit in with council requirements to give the park away. He seems so suitable I wonder if he was one of Kenyon’s pupils from his “teaching” days. Lol
I’ve not actually seen any online abuse against HTC staff. Ive seen the chairman give out plenty of abuse though. What’s that saying about people in glass houses?
That’s a good point, the council resolution was specific to staff, and as such no one else can be included. That’s the legal position and councillors are not staff and as far as I know have not been subjected to any abuse. The truth may hurt but it is the truth. The conduct of this council is appalling. So any expense that has been incurred to date, that has been used from that resolution, that isn’t specific to staff, that is it has been used with regards to the council or councillors is unlawful spending and should / must be repaid by those who have exceeded the resolutions authority.
Correct Ferret and those legal fees will soon add up when their starting fee is £ 264 AN HOUR !!
So how were these solicitors chosen? What criteria did they use? were they recommended, if so who by? Who made the final decision to engage them? Did they know of this sub standard unacceptable conduct? Please explain HTC because it is obvious due diligence wasn’t taken. Now you are aware, have you/do you intend to terminate their employment or do you intend to let this community fall into further disrepute by continuing with this unacceptable pattern of behaviour
I have seen one or two rather harsh comments on Facebook about the conduct, work ethic and appearance of a specific member of council staff, and thought at the time that this was unwise. There is an argument that says that could be classed as online bullying or harassment.
Attacking politicians over their behaviour is one thing, attacking an employee is quite another, although going straight to a solicitor, rather than a public demand that the comments be removed, seems extreme.
This is on top of legal fees to Park square barristers at Leeds who they employ for advice/services!!! Back in Feb they paid £770 followed by another £1365 in March regarding an employment tribunal! A settlement figure and more fees no doubt followed when the decision was made at a recent hearing !
It’s my understanding that any on line abuse should fall on the person who is getting the abuse.
No other company would pay for one of their employers a solicitor for this
Why are we paying for this?
The person who was receiving this so called abuse should have gone to police and then took legal advice
As for their pursuit to find who the ferret is did they spend this much money on finding who Janet bower was abusing the other Councillors questioning their motives and lies
And how abusive was this Janet bower to Councillors members of the public and ex members of staff?
all the independents want removing including the latest one who lied in his campaign independent my rear end everyone knows of his real political leanings as he has spouted b/s about em often enough rest are just subterfuge to a pugilistic wannabe dictator the cabal needs bringing down n fast is there any way/where i could go to for advice on how to get shut as the mass of incompetence and self serving actions are costing us thousands upon thousands
I agree something needs to be done immediately and legally. It will be too late once the independents have bankrupt us. Out of interest does anyone know what would happen if we do end up in that sorry state. Would Wakefield take over, would we be left to pick up the pieces.
A similar thing happened in the next village, Brierley only a few years ago. There it was the clerk who stole, about £800000 I think. She was jailed. The parish council was dissolved. It was touch and go whether the residents would be held liable for the debts. Fortunately Barnsley MBC stepped in at the 11th hour and saved the day for the residents re the debts but I believe they were not obligated to do so. Hats off to Barnsley, well done guys.
Hi Kevin,
My husband,. Shaun Middleton, is independent. He is not a member of any political party, he has numerous wide ranging views. He is working in the best interests of our communities and believes we should be looking forward for our futures. He is passionate about making it a better place to live with more activities for all of us. He does not agree with all that the chairman says and does vote against the carbal, often! What people don’t see is which councillor has voted for or against items. This could easily be solved if people actually went to meetings! Or the councillors get all votes recorded, you can then see the outcome in minutes of meetings.
This is why I feel not all independent councillors should be got rid of
Hi Vicki, The council room only holds about 100 or so and meetings can be very hostile to anyone who does not agree with them and there seems to be a reluctance by Kenyon womersley & co to stream the meetings. We all know why. Nice to see that not all independents are in tow with the cabal, however I believe only the councillors themselves can ask and ensure any vote is recorded. Only one needs to do it and it must be recorded. So it is in their own interests to show that they do not agree with Kenyon and if it doubt vote no and have it recorded. If they don’t it will come back and bite them very hard.
This is exactly what Maxine did with the Vote of No Confidence, and it’s there in the minutes for all to see who supported the Chair.
They pay a subscription of £11.99 a month for “ZOOM” then seem to have no idea how it works ! Perhaps they could ask PRO-LOGIC for help as they pay a subscription of £317.99 a month to them as well for IT support !! WTF 😐
They can’t be that good either of its them who’s been trying to hack the ferret
yeah yeah whatever i know what i know so now all his past political rantings and posturings are to be forgotten dont think so but if he is serious about opposing the subterfuged cabal and put the community first good luck to him we await with bated breath he now has the perfect opportunity and the privileged platform to do so plus a few decent councilors elected under their true political values n views that would support such an act have a nice weekend and stay safe. as for attending meetings in person not all can i would struggle being disabled plus the meetings have a reputation of being pugilistic confrontational and not very welcoming not readily welcoming or indeed advertised
where are these mins and what date please lynn, hart off to maxine
J
If we become banckrupt wakefield will take back hemsworth would be a better option for us which I believe it would
People like Kenyon will always come along and bleed us dry
The only problem with this is that wakefield could hold us responsible and make us the council tax payers pay every penny back
Which could come in 2 ways
Lower Precept less money for the villages
Or high council tax either way we will be paying for kenyon
Hi Richie
You’re right, only a councillor can ask for votes to be recorded, that’s what hes going to do. He also wanted all meetings online. The meetings that are online the carbal are very nice as compared to not online. When asked why the last wasn’t online the reply was they are trialling the council meetings, not sub meetings. He wants all of them online as does Max
Hahaha he loved to go on FB and play devil’s advocate, winding people up. He has always said he will vote for who he believes is the best option at that time. If you’d noticed last time he voted labour and has said in numerous occasions how badly Boris has done.
I agree the meetings must be online for people like yourself who can’t make it. The last online meeting had 60 viewers, that’s brilliant and shows they are a success. In this day and age there is no reason not to.
You have a good weekend too, hopefully if the “open and transparent” councillors agree to have all votes recorded and online we will be able to see who voted for what
Take care and stay safe