OPPOSITION councillors delivered the ultimate insult to Minehead's Tories when they scuppered the mayor-making ceremony on Wednesday night - by staying away. The Conservative-controlled town council's annual meeting - at which Cllr Nick Messarra was due to be handed the civic role for the coming year - had to be abandoned less than five minutes after it opened because not enough councillors turned up to make it legal. Just seven members of the authority attended - all Tories - which meant the meeting was one short of the required number to enable it to carry out any business - including the formal handover of office and ceremonial chain to the mayor-in-waiting. Cllr Messarra's wife and three children had made the journey from their home in Taunton, along with his father-in-law, to witness the formalities but left disappointed. The businessman, who continues to court controversy, had stopped his brother flying over from Beirut at the last minute when he realised the official ceremony was likely to turn into a fiasco. Putting on a brave face after the meeting, Cllr Messarra said: "It is only a temporary situation and I will be mayor. "Obviously my family was very disappointed and it was upsetting, but I will rise above it." Opposition councillors inflicted the 'bloody nose' because of their disapproval of Cllr Messarra's appointment but also because of the ruling Tories' insistence that two vacancies on the council should be filled by Conservative co-options. The vacancies were caused by the resignation of Labour's Val Welch and the death of former Tory Jean Walker, who had latterly changed to an Independent ticket. Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors say they are willing to accept one Tory co-option but draw the line at attempts to impose two. Six of them sent apologies for their absence at Wednesday's meeting - Cllrs Simon Stokes, Brian Blackmore, John Malin, Doug Ross, Martyn Snell and Ivor Gibbon, along with Tory James Scott, who was away in London. But Cllr Snell, who sat outside the town hall on a bench during the meeting, delivered a scathing broadside to the ruling Tories in a two-page statement given to every councillor. As one of the two contenders for the office of mayor, he criticised Cllr Messarra for flouting the council's convention of talking about the appointment in the press before it had been formally ratified. And he warned councillors that they had appointed a mayor who: l During the last municipal year had attended approximately only 20 per cent of meetings l Was actively campaigning to split Minehead and Alcombe into separate areas l Had undertaken projects in the town, however laudable, without any consultation with the council l During the last two years had made it very clear in the press that he did not take any notice of what his council colleagues had to say. "This sets a very good example to our electorate who must wonder what on earth is happening," said Cllr Snell. "I wonder what is happening having been privy to private conversations with many of you during the last 24 months, which will remain private as I do not betray confidences. "How some of you can have voted in such a way following those conversations is beyond me." Cllr Snell went onto say that he understood "some fairly nasty things" had been said about him and the Liberal Democrat party he represents during the selection meeting for the office of mayor and he regretted that those responsible did not have the decency to say them face to face. And he warned that in future he would be taking a backseat role at the council, refusing to act as a substitute for the mayor or deputy, as he had during the past seven years, and to fulfil other duties. "I feel that my experience and good nature have been used and abused. "I feel it is time for others to be involved. "Until now I have always tried to put the town council meetings before my home life, my church life and any other social engagements. No longer." Cllr Snell claimed the standing of the area's local councils was at an all-time low. "The district council has little or no credibility, especially in Minehead, and the main casualty of that has been Cllr Colin Hill. "He did not appreciate the power of the ballot box and his quitting of cabinet has shown how hard he has taken the business of losing. "Nobody has the God-given right to always win and that we should all realise. "Unless we re-establish the trust between the electorate and its councillors the town council will very quickly go the same way." Cllr Snell, who helped spearhead the hugely successful but now defunct Minehead in Bloom for a number of years, said several councillors had made it very clear that the floral initiative was doomed, with the hardworking committee eventually being forced to give way to the inevitable. He also blamed the council's "actions" for council clerk Des Dobson's resignation and the recent resignation of fellow employee Sandra Slade. "Whilst Des remains with us in another guise (as finance officer), the loss of Sandra three months before she was due to retire is awful. "Have any of us tried to establish the reason behind such a servant, over 12 years, walking out at five minutes' notice?" Finally, Cllr Snell urged his fellow councillors to let each and every decision they took to be in the best interests of the area they served and not in the best interests of the Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat parties or those who stand as Independents. His views were echoed in a letter to the council from Cllr Brian Blackmore, who said he had decided to stay away from the annual meeting after much thought and deliberation. He said he could not support a mayor who had in the past: l Falsely accused fellow councillors of civic mismanagement, collusion and deliberately misleading the public l Entered into a costly attempt to divorce Alcombe from Minehead without considering the consequences l Shown a maverick attitude and an inability to work as a team player. "The Conservative choice of Cllr Messarra for mayor is difficult to understand, particularly after previous calls for his resignation by members of his own party," said Cllr Blackmore. "I am afraid the hell-bent attitude of the Tories to pursue 'one party politics' after recent cross-party concensus under Mayor Cllr Terry Venner does not bode well for the future." Cllr Blackmore said that in his ten years as a town councillor he had always previously supported elected mayors or chairmen of either political persuasion and that he would continue to work to the best of his abilities on any committee to which he was appointed. Cllr Simon Stokes, whose absence at the meeting was due to a clash with a vital school governors' meeting on the future of special education needs in the area, said his 'gripe' with the Tories was not so much about their choice of mayor but more about the co-options. He said the divisions within the council would continue as long as the Tories continued to put politics above anything else. "We need an outbreak of common sense and a proper meeting to discuss these co-options. "This council needs to start behaving like a council." No date has yet been set for the reconvened annual meeting, which should be held in May. Clerk designate Sue Sanders told the Free Press that advice had been taken from the Somerset Association of Local Councils and although it should be held in May it would be acceptable to hold the meeting and make the co-options "as soon as possible" because of the special circumstances.
