Ex-Sandwell Council boss demands new powers over 'bullying councillors'
A former council boss has called for new powers enabling local authorities to boot out badly behaved councillors in the wake of her own bullying ordeal.
Sandwell Council's former deputy chief executive Melanie Dudley left her post in 2016, saying she had been a victim of two years of 'sustained, damaging and painful' bullying from then Smethwick councillor Richard Marshall.
An investigation has ruled that messages sent by Mr Marshall did amount to bullying, but he will face no action as he has already stood down from his role on the authority.
In the messages to a blogger, which were sent via WhatsApp, Mr Marshall suggested the blogger give Ms Dudley a 'kicking', and asked if he wanted to 'poke her with sharp stick'.
The messages were subsequently published on the blog. Ms Dudley made a formal complaint to the council, saying Mr Marshall had broken the authority's code of conduct.
At a meeting last week the council's standards committee found that he did break the code, ruling that his actions amounted to bullying and that he showed a 'lack of respect' towards Ms Dudley.
Ms Dudley said the claims against her were 'completely untrue', 'damaging' and 'painful'.
"It amounted to bullying, it was very sexist, it talked about my clothes, my shoes, it likened me to Imelda Marcos," she said.
"It was an absolute disgrace and I would not wish anybody to go through what I had to go through. It was an incredibly tough two years."
She added: "This has taken a great toll on me. It has been bruising. I don't want this to ever happen to anybody again."
Under current legislation ex-councillors cannot face disciplinary action from the authority.
Sandwell Council has written to the Government asking for stronger powers to deal with elected members who break the code of conduct.
Ms Dudley has welcomed the move, and said councils should have the power to remove badly behaved officials from office.
Mr Marshall claims the messages have been taken out of context and said he never expected them to be published.
He insists that on the few occasions he spoke to Ms Dudley he was professional and respectful.
Sandwell Council says it does not accept bullying in any form.
