Ferret has been pondering over, why it is, that no matter what has been highlighted about Alan Draper’s conduct as the Town clerk and Responsible financial officer of Hemsworth Town Council, that there has never been any signs of follow up or disciplinary action taken by the Town Council.
Ferret could name plenty of issues involving Alan Draper since 2019, but today will focus on just one, the use of an untaxed vehicle with no MOT certificate, on the road, that would also invalidate any insurance for the Christmas event.
The vehicle was provided by Councillors Jean and Gordon Eccles, Jean Eccles also drove the vehicle and “father Christmas” was carried on the rear of the pickup without any safety restraints being in place.
This event should have been the subject of a Risk Assessment process and a risk assessment should have been in place to cover all foreseeable occurrences, such as those listed above.
Ferret has been looking at the process that should have been followed by Hemsworth Town Council to investigate Mr Draper’s possible serious negligence in this matter.
This matter can be considered no less than gross misconduct by Alan Draper and the staff hand book states in such cases:
In the event of alleged gross misconduct the formal process may commence at Stage 3 or 4 and will be dealt with by the Staff Disciplinary and Grievance Committee.
33.3 The Procedure for Misconduct and Gross Misconduct
Action will be taken if the Council believes your behaviour, actions or omissions constitute misconduct. The seriousness of the misconduct will determine the severity of any sanction imposed.
Misconduct can range from minor misconduct through to gross misconduct, the latter justifying dismissal without notice.
Here are just a few examples taken from the staff Handbook:
• Theft, fraud, deliberate falsification of records, or other acts of dishonesty
• Gross incompetence in the conduct of work
• Gross negligence which results in the Council or employees being put at risk or serious neglect of duties
So it seems that Mr Draper has some very serious questions to answer. In a case as serious as this, normally the Chair and the Town Clerk have the authority to suspend the individual immediately and start an investigation to ascertain the facts.
However, in this case this is not an option and the full Town Council should be called and start the process and appoint an investigator into the Town Clerk’s conduct.
They would also be expected to suspend him while the investigation takes place.
Councillor Middleton has stated on social media that a “cause and effect” investigation has taken place but this does not seem to be what is stated as the proper procedure, maybe he can explain why?
Formal Action – Disciplinary Stages
If we consider there are grounds for taking formal action against you, you will be required to attend a disciplinary hearing and the stages for which are described below. We will provide you with notification of the hearing and we shall provide you with the following information:-
• A summary of the evidence gathered as part of an investigation;
• Copies of all relevant documents to be used at the hearing; and
• Copies of any witness statements.
The investigation is used to gather evidence and establish the facts ready to be presented to the disciplinary panel at which Mr Draper could state his case.
Alan Draper has also not been put under suspension. Suspension does not imply guilt, it is the standard practice used to allow an unhindered investigation, fact find, witness statements and also to prevent any more possible occurrences of unacceptable practices in the meantime.
Ferret would also like to ask:
Was Alan Draper allowed to participate in this meeting where this alterative course of action was decided?
If he was, it is totally wrong.
Alan Draper is an employee of the Town Council even though he is the senior employee, he is still an employee and he should be treated just like any other employee that is suspected of gross misconduct.
Did the Town Council take any advice on how to proceed at all?
They shouldn’t need to as the procedure is clearly written up for them already.
Leaving a possibly incompetent person to carry on in their role seems unacceptable to Ferret and the proper procedure needs to be implemented as soon as possible.
Ferret cannot understand why the actions of the Town Clerk seem to be accepted by the Town Council even especially when, the public are extremely concerned by his conduct.
Maybe they could now also add the illegal access of CCTV onto his “charge” sheet, alongside everything else…
Hemsworth Town Council: Alan Draper: The Disciplinary Process or the Lack of It…
Apart from Cllr Middleton looking at the root cause I don’t know if any Councillor has taken any action.
There have been a few comments recently which seem to imply that Mr Draper isn’t a Council employee or that the staff handbook rules don’t apply to him. Is this really the perception that our Councillors hold?
Last year I read comments that Councillors need to trust the staff to carry out their duties because it’s not their place to manage them. I would totally agree with this, apart from one very large exception ie Mr Draper.
I don’t believe the Councillors believe they have the responsibility, duty, accountability…etc to empower themselves to ensure everything is above board and done correctly. They seem to think that’s outside their remit. I’ve heard this on more than one occasion from them.
This total hands off approach has to stop.
There’s far more to being a Councillor than just attending meetings and voting.
Councillors need to train themselves up to understand their full responsibilities.
They need to be fully conversant with all the HTC Policies and Procedures, including the staff hand book.
They need to be aware of their legal responsibilities, (including Employment Law) as they have ultimate accountability for the council’s actions.
Yes, they employ professional people to help them, such as auditors, solicitors, HR, the Town Clerk etc – but it’s ultimately their responsibility and ultimately they are accountable.
So, if they haven’t taken any proactive actions and followed proper council procedures, they are now at fault as their inaction can be regarded as negligence under UK Law.
What on earth are they waiting for? Permission?
The Town Clerk is absolutely an employee, he was hired by the council and is under all the rules and regs that apply to the staff and can be fired by them.
There is something very concerning why they are covering for him.
HTC have so so many questions to answer and unfortunately 15 minutes public questions would be insufficient,the public would need a Question meeting a full agenda of Why,What and How as it all gone unchallenged.We have seen certain good councillors trying to out the badness within the HTC,they have tried to bring all the misdeeds out to the public and showed they will obtain the truth,transparency and hopefully justice.
This as the public have seen and witnessed in the recent finance meeting councillor Maxine Hird and councillor Donna Moran have fought through every avenue to bring the community justice for the shocking last 4 years of the Independent run HTC but the public have also seen and witnessed they haven’t always had the full support from other councillors that they should have had to end all the misdoings and the Town Clerk as a lot of questions to answer to.Hopefully the clock is ticking and a full clear out will happen and this will be the parishioners say in our public question time and our VOTES will be seen and heard.
Please can you post on FB Thankyou.