Three Kington town councillors have been suspended from attending committee meetings for allegedly ‘bullying’ the new town clerk.
Councillors Esther Rolls, Janet Thomas and Bob Widdowson have been stopped from attending personnel and finance and general purposes committee meetings, as a result of a resolution passed by the full council on Monday.
The clerk, Gwilym Rippon, a former police officer for over 30 years, took office with Kington Town Council in August.
He confirmed that the councillors had been suspended from committee meetings “until the due process has been completed, also until they have received training and counselling”.
He would not go into why they had been suspended, saying it was a personnel matter and confidential.
But Councillor Rolls said she had been suspended in her absence for “allegedly bullying” Mr Rippon.
She said she believed it was because she and Councillors Thomas and Widdowson had raised concerns about Mr Rippon’s employment.
Councillor Thomas said she did not really know why she had been suspended. She said she knew the clerk had put in a grievance about her but she was unaware of what it was.
Councillor Widdowson also had no idea about why they had been suspended.
“I was not aware that he had put in a grievance against me until I went to a grievance meeting last week. We have now been suspended and still do not know what the grievance is,” he told the Journal.
