A York councillor is the subject of a series of complaints after accusations of bullying, threatening behaviour and assaulting a clerk.
The councillor, a member of one of York’s parish or town councils, has broken code of conduct rules, according to an independent investigator.
A report to the council’s standards hearing sub-committee states that five complaints have been brought against the unnamed person by parish/town councillors and a council clerk.
A hearing was due to take place on Friday but has now been postponed until at least mid-March.
The councillor’s identity will be made public before the hearing, a City of York Council spokesman said.
The first complaint relates to an email sent in 2019, in which it is alleged that the councillor was “bullying, threatening and intimidating” towards other councillors and the clerk, according to the report.
The councillor is also accused of “disruptive, aggressive and confrontational behaviour” during a meeting in November 2019.
That month, the clerk also claims that the councillor assaulted them during a meeting while a vote was taking place to have the councillor removed from the meeting due to their behaviour.
In February 2020, it is claimed that the councillor was disrespectful, bullying and used their position to create an advantage over the clerk and intimidated people.
Harassed staff
Another complaint also said the councillor “repeatedly bullied, threatened and harassed councillors and staff”.
Stephen Pearson of Freeths Solicitors was asked to investigate the complaints.
Rachel Antonelli, City of York Council’s head of democratic governance and deputy monitoring officer, said in her report:
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“The investigating officer is of the opinion that the councillor did breach the code of conduct by being disrespectful, in breach of the code of conduct, towards the clerk and members of the town/parish council and that the councillor also behaved, on a number of occasions, in a manner which was bullying and/or intimidatory, in particular towards the clerk, also in breach of the code.”
When the hearing takes place, a panel of councillors will decide whether the code of conduct had been breached and if so, what sanctions should be imposed.