Bishop's Castle town clerk suspended amid residents' concerns

At a meeting last week, Gwilym Rippon was accused of being the reason why three previous councillors had left.

Residents were also concerned about the council’s financial affairs, citing poor audit reports and documentation either not being updated or being unavailable.

One member of the public even said that the town council could be on the brink of insolvency.

Mr Rippon was previously the town clerk of Clun Town Council with Chapel Lawn, but resigned two months ago, stating that his personal and professional commitments meant he no longer felt able to give the job the time it required.

However, Councillor James McVicar, who is acting as interim clerk, alleges there have been missing invoices, and accused Mr Rippon of a “poor handover” when he left the organisation.

Mr Rippon said he could not comment due to not being at the meetings.

Allegations include Mr Rippon “being a fabricator of the truth” after he reportedly told Miranda Stanley that no work was required on Bishop’s Castle’s town hall’s chimney stack.

“The council has lost three good councillors in the last few years who were unable to work with the town clerk, Gwilym Rippon,” said Mrs Stanley.

“I personally find him rude, unreliable, and a fabricator of the truth. And I put forward a vote of no confidence in his ability to carry out his work correctly and in a dignified manner of our town.”

Meanwhile, Simon Gregg said he had spoken “to a whole host of experts” who were amazed at what is going on at the town council.

He said: “The experts’ very sobering conclusions are that we are pretty much non-compliant, unnecessarily paying out vast sums of money, and in the trajectory on the brink of insolvency, if not this year, but next year.”

Sue Cooper, meanwhile, said that residents’ complaints have not been followed through and the town council’s complaints procedure had not been updated since 2013.

An extraordinary meeting, called by the Mayor of Bishop’s Castle, Councillor Josh Dickin, was held in private on Monday (May 18).

The following day, at the annual town council meeting, Councillor Dickin confirmed Mr Rippon had been suspended pending an investigation.

The assistant clerk, Sarah Smith, is understood to have agreed to take on additional responsibilities, but was not at Tuesday’s meeting.

Councillor Dickin said it was unusual circumstances, but the council needed to carry on and represent the town.

“I want to thank councillors for their patience and professionalism,” said Councillor Dickin.

“I do appreciate the work of all councillors because it’s a difficult situation at the moment and we just need to stick together as a team.”

A date for another extraordinary meeting will be set, specifically to discuss the town council’s finances.

At Tuesday’s meeting, councillors were asked to approve the invoices for May, which included £4,221.58 in staff wages to Mr Rippon.

“Noting the public’s concerns, do we want to just go through them line by line and agree, or put some to defer if we’re not quite sure and we need to do some work on?” asked Councillor Dickin.

Councillor Leon Kosciuczyk, the new deputy mayor, said if they go through them line by line, they need the individual invoices.

“We don’t want to defer payments that need to be paid,” said Councillor Dickin.

Councillor Jane Carroll added: “Could we agree to pay all the wages to start with because they’ve got to be paid, haven’t they?”

“Things like rates, although they are on this list, I think are on direct debits.”

In response, Councillor Dickin said: “I’m cautious looking at Halls and PHS [for toilet consumables]. It should have been actioned.

“For a long time, they may have been pulling our pants down and we need to investigate that, is the honest answer.”

Members approved the payments, but stated they need be looked at further at an extraordinary meeting and/or a scrutiny committee that will be set up.