Onchan Commissioners spent £8,500 on legal advice concerning member's conduct

Onchan District Commissioners spent £8,500 on legal advice concerning member's conduct in just over a year.

The information has been released as part of a response to a Freedom of Information request, and details the costs between 1 August 2021 and 8 December 2022.

It also revealed that two commissioners submitted complaints against two other board members.

These incidents were reported on 14 June last year and were resolved on 9 December.

After the June 2022 board meeting it was decided the clerk is the only officer who will sit in the meetings until he feels there has been an ‘acceptable improvement’ in commissioners’ conduct.

During the private session of the September 2022 board meeting, the local authority allowed a new Standing Order to be drafted, a Corporate Governance Principles and Code of Conduct Policy to incorporate improvements relating to improved Member conduct.

At present under the authority’s Standing Order 2.2 the ‘conduct’ of an authority employee is not recorded in the public minutes unless the Authority has ‘otherwise determined’.

The commissioners have been contacted for comment.

The full request and response can be found here.