Worthing council sacks standards committee chairman

Jane Stirzaker-Evans was dismissed from her voluntary post at the council's full meeting.

The shock decision followed 55-year-old Mrs Stirzaker-Evans' action, at a committee meeting on November 25, in using her casting vote to support a committee recommendation that the council allocate 9,000 to address any ethical government "weaknesses".

Read the letter and the original story by clicking here.

People's protest

When the recommendation was reported in the Herald, it brought protests that money should not be spent in this way.

Mrs Stirzaker-Evans, who was chairman for two-and-a-half years, told the council: "The council appears to be dealing with the allegation in a political way, rather than using the formal process governed by legislation and regulations, and during which I would have had a chance to defend myself.

"I feel I am being judged without having been proven guilty, and this is against the laws of natural justice."

Mrs Stirzaker-Evans went on: "It appears to me that I am condemned for being independent whilst fulfilling my statutory role as independent chairman.

"If the council had no confidence in me, then why was I reappointed as chairman in May? I am condemned because I did not vote as elected members wished me to."

Balanced view

She told the Herald that, following the newspaper's original report and online readers' poll, she wrote a letter to this newspaper "which I believe gave a more balanced view of what an ethical governance audit is all about.

"It is a shame the public were asked to vote on such a serious matter without having the full facts".

The council meeting on Tuesday, December 15, rejected the recommendation to proceed with the ethical audit.

Council's view

A council statement said: "The role of the standards committee is to ensure the code of conduct of elected councillors is upheld, not to make decisions about how public money is spent.

"As chairman of the standards committee, Mrs Stirzaker-Evans recently used her casting vote, going against all elected members, to propose spending 9,000 of public money to train councillors unnecessarily.

"Spending public money should be decided by elected members as they are accountable to the public, and an independent, non-elected person is not."

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