A COUNCILLOR has called on Wellington Town Council to be more “open and transparent” when discussing confidential items.

Although Cllr John Thorne appreciates that certain council business has to be discussed in private and behind closed doors because of confidential issues, he believes that the minutes of those talks need to show some information.

He was clearly frustrated on Tuesday (August 27) evening at the town council’s extraordinary full meeting when discussing minutes of the authority’s August 5 meeting when an item taken in private session entitled “staffing review” was defined with “the contents of this minute are confidential.”

And Cllr Thorne took umbrage at that and told councillors that they were “hiding” information from the public.

He said that the “staffing review” was to discuss and agree pay rises for some of the council’s staff members.

With Wellington Town Council taking on more services to help out Somerset Council which is on the verge of bankruptcy, it means that town council officers are taking on a heavier workload and more responsibilities and with that, understandably, comes an increase in salary.

And Cllr Thorne felt members of the public – council taxpayers’ – should be informed of that.

“We are keeping that information from the public,” he said. “We are giving pay rises to our staff – really big pay rises.

“From a member of the public’s point of view we are putting up their Council Tax and they deserve to know what we’re doing.

“We are hiding it from them – we need to be more open and transparent.”

Town clerk Dave Farrow told councillors that discussions about staff pay were “legitimately confidential.”

It has always been the norm for matters about staffing to be discussed in private.

“There was a review and there were recommendations and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to put that information into a public document,” said Mr Farrow.

Councillors did have some sympathy with what Cllr Thorne was saying.

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said: “We need to put enough in the minutes to show what we are doing, but without spelling it out.”

And Cllr Andy Govier said: “I understand what’s being said and we could make an amendment to those minutes and say we discussed staff salaries.”

Mr Farrow said he would not have a problem with that, but added: “I would have an issue if you wanted to start putting in the minutes details about individual salaries.”

It was agreed in February this year that the town council would carry out a pay review for staff because of the extra work coming their way and that roles and responsibilities would change.

But Cllr Thorne, speaking at the council’s policy and resources committee on February 21, said: “I wouldn’t be in favour of there being a staff review of pay. We pay our staff very well for what they do and they do a good job. But if our staff don’t feel as if they are being paid enough, they can go and get jobs elsewhere.”