Bid to solve crisis sparks rumpus (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Bid to solve crisis sparks rumpus

1:00pm Sunday 28th March 2010 in

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AN ATTEMPT by the borough’s chief executive to untangle the mess surrounding the selection of the next borough mayor has itself provoked more controversy.

A council paper – published on March 25, provoked criticism and questions about a possible conflict of interest for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council chief executive Tony Curtis.

The council is currently mired in constitutional crisis after most of the Conservative councillors went against the authority’s seniority principle and overlooked deputy mayor Cllr Phil Heath in favour of Tory Cllr Keith Chapman as the mayor for 2010-11.

Tories who opposed Cllr Heath have said he should not become mayor while four complaints alleging he breached the councillors’ code of conduct are investigated.

Two complaints came from Conservative councillors and two from council officers – including Mr Curtis, who was unhappy at Cllr Heath criticising the borough council’s response to December’s snowfall.

When, on March 1, 26 Conservatives voted for Cllr Chapman over Cllr Heath, a former Tory group leader who was expelled from the party in 2008, it created an unprecedented situation where there could be two candidates at the council’s prestigious mayor-making meeting on May 13.

To avoid potential embarrassment to the family and supporters of the candidates, Mr Curtis has now produced a paper which suggests swapping mayor-making with the annual selection meeting, where committee chairmen are chosen, a week later.

Under the plan, the formal vote for mayor would take place at the rearranged selection meeting on May 13 and the ceremonial appointment of the new mayor would then happen on May 20.

However, the attempt to smooth the selection process has drawn fire from some opposition councillors.

Independent Councillor Ian Tilbury said: “It’s all pretty shocking. Tony Curtis should not be involved in producing papers like this in my mind. He’s involved in making allegations and complaints.”

The paper suggests Cllr Chapman, as a result of the March 1 vote, should be considered mayor-elect and his name should go forward first, with Cllr Heath’s candidacy being taken as an amendment.

But Cllr Heath said the March vote was an indicative vote that did not produce a mayor-elect. He also claimed Mr Curtis and Chris Guy, the council’s head of legal and democratic services, had told him last week that one candidate would not be given prominence over another.

Cllr Heath, who is now a member of Basingstoke First Community Party, added: “You do not have an election with one councillor having primacy of place.”

Labour group leader Cllr Laura James said: “The Labour group has warned council from the start about the folly of its actions and has expressed concern that this plot to stop Cllr Heath becoming mayor would harm the integrity and reputation of the council.

“It is still not too late to salvage the situation and restore the integrity of the Office of Mayor. This report does none of these things.” She added that only Cllr Chapman withdrawing would achieve that.

But Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr John Shaw thought the paper was a sensible way of resolving the potential problem of having people at mayor-making for two different candidates. “It would minimise the impact on either of those two sets of people,” he said.

Cllr Chapman said he had not read the report. Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Ruffell did not return The Gazette’s calls.

Mr Guy later issued a statement stating he was unaware of any complaints over a conflict of interest.

There could be no conflict of interest because the report only dealt with the mayoral process and not the code of conduct process, he said.

Mr Guy said the council had an agreed process to arrive at a mayor elect and Cllr Chapman held the position as a result of the March 1 vote.

"From that point there cannot be equal candidates as far as the council's agreed procedures are concerned," he said.

"It is always one person who is put forward as mayor elect to the annual council meeting in May."