A COUNCILLOR has been reprimanded for ‘failing to treat council officers with respect’.

Councillor David Potter was alleged to have acted in a ‘disrespectful and intimidatory’ manner by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s monitoring officer and head of its law and governance unit Bhupinder Gill by sending an email to all borough councillors which set out ‘details of unresolved complaints’ the councillor had against Mr Gill and the borough’s chief executive Melbourne Barrett.

The complaint was upheld in terms of not treating officers with respect though claims Cllr Potter’s conduct was ‘disrespectful, intimidatory, sought to compromise the impartiality of council officers, has brought his office and the council into disrepute, and has used council resources for political purposes’ were thrown out.

The complaint was upheld by the borough’s deputy monitoring officer and two independents persons and Cllr Potter issued with a reprimand for breaching the Code of Conduct.

The complaint decision issued on March 1 reads: “The email of 10 December questioned the professional competence and integrity of the council’s monitoring officer. The email also contained disparaging remarks about the council’s chief executive.

“It was disproportionate to publish the email to all 60 members of the council. Any concerns a councillor had about a council officer should be raised in a proportionate way using appropriate procedures which respect the officer’s contract of employment and provide an officer a right of reply.

“In this case it is acknowledged that formal procedures to raise concerns were not available at the time. However advice should have been sought before taking such public action and any concerns could have been raised with the director responsible for the monitoring officer and/or the leader or relevant cabinet member.”

Cllr Potter maintains the complaints he initially raised have still not been dealt with and is appealing the decision.

The Labour councillor said: “I find this particularly galling as the lack of respect shown by these officers to me in the first place appears to not have featured in the judgement made by those looking at the complaint made against me. In simple language, I am the victim in this episode.

“If my appeal fails, as it almost certainly will as I will probably be denied a fair heading, I intend to take out complaints against the officers under the procedure now belatedly adopted by the council.

“Ironically, I am counselled against releasing all of the papers related to this complaint to the public, albeit I have no issue with this as I have been truthful throughout.”