The Ombudsman’s office received a complaint that a member (“the Member”) of Chirk Town Council (“the Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct. It was alleged that the Member sent messages to an individual on social media threatening to report their spouse and prevent them from obtaining work from the Council.
The investigation considered whether the Member failed to comply with the following provision of the Code of Conduct: 7(a) – Members must not, in their official capacity or otherwise, use or attempt to use their position improperly to confer on or secure for themselves, or any other person, an advantage or create or avoid for themselves, or any other person, a disadvantage.
The investigation found that the Member’s explanation for his intention in sending the message was not a plausible one. The messages could reasonably be interpreted as the Member suggesting that he would misuse his position as a member to disadvantage the individual’s husband. The investigation found that the Member’s conduct was suggestive of a breach of paragraph 7(a) of the Code of Conduct.
The report on the investigation was referred to the Monitoring Officer of Wrexham County Borough Council for consideration by the County Council’s Standards Committee. The Council’s Standards Committee found that the Member had failed to comply with paragraph 7(a) of the Code of Conduct. The Committee decided that the most appropriate sanction to be applied was a censure and noted that it was the only sanction available to it given the Member’s resignation from the Council.