Call for controversial complaints policy to be “thrown out”
Councillors were asked for comments on the first draft of a Vexatious Policy to “deal with abusive, persistent or vexatious complaints and complainants”.
The policy identifies situations where a complainant, either individually or as part of a group, or a group of complainants, might be considered to be habitual, continuous or vexatious.
It says habitual or vexatious complaints can be a problem for council staff and members and that “the difficulty in handling such complainants is that they are time consuming and wasteful of resources in terms of officer and member time”.
The policy continues: “While the council endeavours to respond with patience and sympathy to the needs of all complainants, there are times when nothing further can reasonably be done to assist or to rectify a real or perceived problem. These complaints need to be identifiable, and no further action taken.”
But it was not well received with councillors Billy Spencer, Phil Pritchard and Estelle Bleivas calling for it to be dismissed.
“I am not happy about it,” said Cllr Spencer. “This policy seems like a bit of a cop-out. I understand if it is becoming constant, but why are these people having reason to complain continuously?
“I just don’t agree with this. We have the code of conduct. This is covering for members of staff who are repeatedly behaving badly. And it is saying that we can’t complain because if we do then it is vexatious. Well, no, stop behaving badly. We don’t need it. I feel strongly and it’s a waste of time and I propose that it gets thrown out.
“If we take away people’s right to complain then it will not go down well with Welshpool people. So, I propose that for the reputation of this council then this policy is thrown out immediately.”
Town Clerk, Anne Wilson, explained that the proposal to have the policy had been adopted by a previous meeting and the purpose now was to scrutinise the content. She also added that it was not just about councillors and staff but about members of the public continuously “writing the same questions hundreds of time”.
She also said it was to stop councillors “choosing to write ten hundred letters when actually they are all meaningless”.
But councillors weren’t happy.
Cllr Bleivas added: “To me, this reads like something out of the communist handbook. ‘Do not do this, you are not allowed to do that’ etc, etc.”
Cllr Pritchard believed the policy was being directed at him specifically after two recent investigations into his conduct.
He said: “Let’s put it all on the table. This council hasn’t had hundreds of complaints. They had two off me and they decided that one was vexatious. But my brief (solicitor) told me that there was nothing vexatious in it at all. I asked a question about money, then all of a sudden I got an answer back that it is a vexatious question and they are not going to deal with it.”
Cllr Pritchard claimed that in the previous 24 hours he had been in contact with the Ombudsman, The Welsh Government and took legal advice which, he claims, informed him that “this is an illegal document”.
“I have the right to bring questions to the council that people have asked me on the street. If that means 10 questions then I have the right to ask them, not to be told that’s too many and you can have three.”
As the arguments heated up, Ms Wilson pleaded with opposition councillors to “don’t shout at me” and said that she felt like she was being “bullied out of here”.
But Strategy, Policy, and Development Committee, stand-in Chair, Cllr Geoff Lanagan responded: “I would like it reported that you are not being bullied. Phil (Cllr Pritchard) raised his voice and I have asked him not to.”
The Town Mayor, Cllr Nick Howells, intervened to say that the policy was obviously causing issues and called for it to be revisited with a special working committee appointed.
Cllr Spencer’s proposal to have it thrown out lost on the Chair’s deciding vote, but it was finally agreed that a working party would scrutinise the policy and report back to council.
Cllr Lanagan stressed that “people have the right to free speech and we aren’t in the business of impeding people to make legitimate complaints”.
Cllr Howells added that he “wasn’t happy with the way the debate had gone”, but said: “I do agree that we need a Vexatious Policy to cover our own backs in certain circumstances, but I think, as we have decided, it really does need a lot more scrutiny.”
In her defence to criticism of the policy’s first draft, Ms Wilson explained that it had come from a “very recognised national body where it is an adopted policy” and that “I didn’t pick it out of thin air to bring it to make it contentious”.
“I brought a policy because I was asked to bring one and I am not having the blame for this policy,” she said.
The working party will meet and report back at the December meeting.
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