Clerk resigns and chairman puts his wife in as clerk on the night. Is this legal?

Question

We have lost 4 clerks in less than 3 years. last night the clerk resigned by letter and the chairman (who had his wife with him) asked her to take the minutes

Is this legal and proper or....?

Answer 1

Assuming there is no payment involved, then it is useful to have a volunteer who is willing to take the minutes. In principle, it should not matter too much who takes the minutes, since they have to be approved by the full council. If you have concerns, obviously it will pay to take your own notes. Clearly, the ideal is to have a clerk who is independent of all councillors and acts even handedly in all council matters.

Comments

Thank you very much. Appreciate your common sense. Surely though if we are losing clerks because of the chairs attitude someone must investigate the reason? Our new county councillor for example

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I know it's frustrating but the only people who can really deal with the problem are the electorate. Certainly you can try bringing pressure to bear from other quarters. Got to be worth a try!