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Aug 2020
When Anthony Place put his complaint into Harrogate Borough Council, it went to the authority’s monitoring officer, Jennifer Norton, who assessed whether it was something the council would investigate further.
For councils across the country, including Harrogate Borough Council, the monitoring officer is bound by the code of conduct when it comes to dealing with complaints and its ability to take action against councillors.
What happened in the case of Cllr Samantha Mearns?
In the case of Cllr Samantha Mearns and the complaint from Anthony Place in June 2019, the borough council felt the councillor was “not engaged in council business” so the rules of the code of conduct did not apply.
The council then did not take any further action to investigate the complaint.
It was a similar situation with the case of Ernest Butler
More recently, the Stray Ferret reported on parish Cllr Ernest Butler after racial comments he made on social media regarding a white lives matter protest.
A complaint was made to the borough council about his post, but again said it could not take action. The authority again said the councillor should be engaged in business directly related to the council or constituents for it to breach its code.
However, these cases do not necessarily always leave the complainant feeling satisfied.
In the case of Mr Place, he told the Stray Ferret:
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