On the 9th February 2023 the Suffolk Joint Standards Sub-Committee for Babergh and Mid Suffolk met to consider why Councillor M. Aherne had not complied with the sanctions imposed by the Deputy Monitoring Officer. The Deputy Monitoring Officer had previously investigated a complaint against Councillor M. Aherne regarding his conduct towards the Clerk of Brantham Parish Council.
After consultation with the Independent Person, it was concluded that Councillor M. Aherne had breached Parts 1 and 2 of the Suffolk Local Code of Conduct (2012).
The Deputy Monitoring Officer imposed the following sanctions on Councillor M. Aherne:
• To publicly apologise to the Clerk at the next available full Council meeting
• To undertake Code of Conduct training and Equality and Diversity training as soon as possible, but no later than three months from the date of the response letter (February, 2022)
• To undertake training on responsibilities as an employer within three months of the date of the response letter (February, 2022) Councillor M. Aherne has not complied with any of the sanctions issued to him.
Councillor M. Aherne did not attend the Joint Standards Sub-Committee Hearing to put forward any mitigations as to why he had not complied with any of the sanctions. Details of the outcome of meeting can be found on the link below.