Manea Parish Council clerk resigns over public’s poor behaviour at meetings and says ‘I’ve had enough’

A parish council clerk has resigned over what he calls “hostile, confrontational and aggressive” behaviour of some members of the community at recent meetings.

Terry Jordan, has been parish clerk at Manea for 10 years, but he says he has now had enough.

Part of the reason for his resignation, which he submitted to council chairman Steve Emery last week, is so he can enjoy a better work/life balance.

But he also told Coun Emery: “In addition, I have become tired of the hostile, confrontational and aggressive approach that is taken by certain elements of the community towards the parish council; this is something that I do not need in my life.

“Even if I had any doubts about resigning from the role of Clerk to Manea Parish Council, the behaviour of some of those in attendance at February 19 2018 meeting of the council has confirmed to me that I am making the right decision.”

Mr Jordan told the Citizen meeting of Manea council have become increasingly bad tempered over the past few months and he said: “I’m simply tired of all the nonsense as meetings which have become consistently confrontational with certain members of the public who appear to have no respect and simply chip in and make comments on decisions the council makes that goes against their opinion.”

He said the 15 minute public forum at the start of meetings is open to residents to raise issues they feel need addressing by the council. But instead people are turning up and using it to have a go at councillors.

“I have been considering my position since late last summer. I have worked in local government for the last 40 years and I want to start having more time to do what I want to do. The role of clerk is quite demanding, people think you should be on call 24 hours a day and I would like to be able to go away on holiday without having to worry about it.

“The behaviour at recent meetings had made my decision to leave much easier that it might have been.”

Coun Emery said: “Terry has done a stirling job, he is a top parish clerk and he is going to be difficult to replace. He has been a great help over the past 10 years and there is no doubt we are going to miss his expertise, but I understand his reasons for leaving.”

Mr Jordan will serve the council until the end of the annual meeting in May when he hopes to be able to hand over to his successor.

He said: “Such an arrangement will enable both the process for ensuring the internal auditing of the council’s 2017/18 accounts to be concluded by me and for the new clerk to have one whole year’s experience in the job prior to the scheduled council elections in May 2019.”