Two investigations are to take place into complaints against York city councillors.
The City of York Council standards committee will hold two hearings next week to consider if the unnamed councillors have breached the code of conduct.
The first hearing will consider a complaint from a council officer that a councillor displayed “inappropriate and disrespectful behaviour, which had left them feeling distressed”
The standards sub-committee documents go on: “The officer further stated that the councillor had previously acted in an aggressive and discourteous manner to their team.
“Additionally, the officer claimed that the councillor had shared information about an ongoing case with a third party.
“The complaint was assessed by a Deputy Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Independent Person, and subsequently referred for investigation by a Senior Lawyer employed by City of York Council.
“The investigating officer is of the opinion that the councillor did breach the Code of Conduct.”
The hearing on Thursday (18 April) will determine whether the councillor has breached the code. And if so, the sub-committee will decide “whether a sanction should be imposed and if so, what sanction”.
That hearing, at 1.30pm, will be followed by a second investigation into a City of York Council councillor’s conduct at 2.45pm.
Council documents state: “On 16 October 2023, the Monitoring Officer received a complaint from an officer of the council, alleging that a councillor had breached the Code of Conduct by copying third parties into a formal complaint that the councillor had made against that officer’s conduct.
“On the same day, a second officer submitted a complaint relating to the same incident and giving additional detail as to the potential breach of the Member/Officer Protocol and the Member Code of Conduct.”
A council lawyer was appointed investigating officer and assessed the complaint. “The investigating officer is of the opinion that the councillor did breach the Code of Conduct,” documents say.
The hearing on Thursday will consider the evidence and rule on whether the councillor did breach the code, and what if any sanction will be applied.