TOWN CLERK
YES The position of Clerk was consolidated by the Local Government Acts of 1888 and 1894 which granted , respectively, County Councils and then Urban and Rural Districts and the newly created civil parish councils the specific power to appoint a “Clerk of the Council”.
The importance of the Clerk’s position was underlined by Lord Justice Caldecote ruling in Hurle-Hobbs ex parte Riley and another (1944) observed: "The office of town clerk is an important part of the machinery of local government. He may be said to stand between the local Council and the ratepayers. He is there to assist by his advice and action the conduct of public affairs in the borough and, if there is a disposition on the part of the council, still more on the part of any member of the council, to ride roughshod over his opinions, the question must at once arise as to whether it is not his duty forthwith to resign his office or, at any rate, to do what he thinks right and await the consequences."
Under the section 112 of the Local Government Act (LGA) 1972, a parish or town (local) council shall appoint such officers as necessary for the proper discharge of their functions. In short, it shall appoint a “proper officer”. The proper officer is very often referred to as “the clerk (to the council)” but can be known by other terms such as chief executive.
The clerk is not a secretary, or the personal assistant of the chairman or any individual council members. The clerk is employed by, and therefore answerable to, the council as a whole and is instructed to carry out actions by full council or by committees with delegated powers.
In 1974 Parish Councils were able to change their name to Town Councils and accordingly most Parish Clerks are now given the title of Town Clerk
