I won’t apologise for social media posts, says councillor
‘CODE OF CONDUCT WAS BREACHED’
A COUNCILLOR has refused to apologise after she breached the code of conduct.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that Cllr Joan McTigue posted on social media implying a council staff member was employed by the local authority because he campaigned for Cllr Antony High’s election campaign in December 2019.
Cllr High ran for parliament as an independent candidate for the Middlesbrough seat, which he lost to Labour’s Andy McDonald.
Cllr High was appointed as deputy mayor by Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston in June 2019, until he resigned along with four other executive members in May 2021.
Cllr McTigue, an independent councillor for Longlands and Beechwood, has refused to apologise as the council employee did not make the official complaint and she claims they do not care about the posts.
A former councillor, Ashley Waters, reported Cllr McTigue to the local authority in July 2021 for the posts in November 2019 and December 2020.
Mr Waters, who faced criticism over time he spent renovating a chateau in France while an independent councillor for North Ormesby, stepped down in November 2021 claiming he had faced horrific levels of abuse.
Papers for the standards committee meeting on Friday reveal a hearing on May 11 2022, which came after an external investigation, concluded that Cllr McTigue had breached the code of conduct. The report states: “She (Cllr McTigue) did not respect others, conducted herself in a manner which was likely to bring the authority, office, or the Member into disrepute and did not use social media responsibly.”
At the meeting, a number of sanctions were imposed.
The committee ordered Cllr McTigue to provide a written apology to the employee who was the subject of the complaint and to undergo one-to-one social media training by July 6.
If either of these are not carried out, there could be further action taken against the councillor.
Cllr McTigue said since the council employee did not make the complaint, she wouldn’t apologise and she confirmed that she had not completed one-to-one training.
The report also states there will be a motion of public censure, which is essentially a vote by full council on whether to criticise the behaviour of Cllr McTigue.
However, there has been a holdup as it was meant to be held at the full council meeting on Wednesday, July 6 but had not appeared on the agenda.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that there are concerns over the time gap between the social media post and when it was reported. According to an online council document, complaints cannot be investigated under the Member’s Code of Conduct if they have not occurred within the last six months. Cllr McTigue claims there is now a dispute over the complaint due to the timeframe issue.
In this instance, the report was made on July 6, 2021, more than six months after the social media posts on November 28, 2019, and on December 23, 2020. The minutes from the meeting in May, where the complaint was discussed, state the council’s monitoring officer, Charlotte Benjamin, addressed the committee’s concerns regarding the time taken to process the complaint.
At the time of writing, Labour group leader Cllr Matt Storey, who is also a member of the standards committee, said he had not been informed of the reasons why the motion of public censure was not on the agenda for the full council meeting on Wednesday, July 6.
He added: “It was unanimously agreed that Cllr McTigue had breached the Code of Conduct and that she should be sanctioned but it seems the chair has decided to pull the censure.
“Labour councillors take standards in public life very seriously and we want to ensure that the behaviour of elected members at Middlesbrough Council is of the highest possible standard.
“Clearly, local independent councillors are more interested in protecting their mates and covering up clear breaches of the Code of Conduct. I hope the chair reconsiders and the censure is brought to a future meeting. Public confidence in the council will be severely damaged if he doesn’t.”
Cllr Mick Saunders, who is vicechair of the standards committee and the Middlesbrough Independent Councillor’s Association group leader, is concerned that the complaint was allowed to be considered after the six month deadline and is worried about the precedent it could set.
He added: “It’s OK for Labour to contradict things and say it’s the independents protecting independents, but that’s not the case.
“There is no way that I am protecting or supporting Cllr McTigue but it is the validity of the time schedule.”