Overpowering Parish Clerk

Question

We currently have a Parish Clerk who is completely dominating not only the Parish Council, but also the residents. The Clerk has a rude and abrupt attitude towards everyone and if questioned politely about anything, will only answer by saying the Clerk is the RFO and Proper Officer acting under Emergency Covid Legislation so has the right to carry on, almost regardless.
The Clerk is refusing to speak with any  Councillors now and has recently made public their resignation details via Social Media and emails to the Chair and Personnel Chair, but now refuses to discuss anything even with them regarding what the Council have to do next, saying the resignation is not our responsibility.
Where do we go from here? Trust in the Council by residents is virtually zero now as we cannot deal with any of them and the Clerk has lost the support of all but maybe a couple of Councillors.

Advice required please.

Answer 1

Clearly there is a breakdown of trust and confidence but its not for me to apportion blame.  So here are a few practical steps that might help a) write to your clerk to request/insist on a handover meeting where all the documents/equipment/cheque books/books of account/minutes etc etc are returned to the council, b) start looking for a new clerk possibly through your county association and/or SLCC, c) make sure you are clear about who are bank signatories on your account, d) concentrate on the future and getting your house in order/restoring public confidence rather than gnashing your teeth and the past.

Comments

Thanks for the advice

Answer 2

As the other person has said, ask for a handover and everything to be returned to the Council.  Draw a line underneath it, appoint a qualified Clerk who will be able to sort it out for you, go out and meet your resident in order to regain trust and say that the Councillors are here for them.  Try and turn it round and you might find it will be easier than you think and won’t take very long to have an organised working Council once again.

Comments

Thanks for the advice

Answer 3

You hold an extraordinary meeting, vote on replacing the Clerk and if the vote goes against the Clerk then you can move to replace the Clerk with a more user friendly one. The Council as a legal entity has the final word not the Clerk.