Marlborough town clerk quits (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Marlborough town clerk quits

10:00am Thursday 2nd July 2009

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Marlborough town clerk Pam Dobson has quit her job after being absent on sick leave for five months.

She is heading back to Yorkshire.

Mrs Dobson joined Marlborough Town Council four years ago having previously served as town clerk at Filey on the east Yorkshire coast.

On Monday Mayor Nick Fogg broke the news to colleagues at a planning committee meeting that Mrs Dobson had handed in her notice.

Coun Fogg added that Mrs Dobson had launched a grievance procedure against the Marlborough council but refused to give any details although pressed by two colleagues, Coun Stewart Dobson (no relation to the town clerk) and his wife Coun Marian Hannaford.

Earlier this year councillors were told Mrs Dobson had been as much as ten months in arrears on the council-owned cottage in Salisbury Road that went with her £36,000 a year job.

Last year Mrs Dobson’s husband Tony died suddenly but the council’s accounts showed that she had been in arrears for many months prior to the tragedy.

Mrs Dobson, 50, joined the council after it had gone through a protracted unsettled period that resulted in her predecessor Graham Gittins quitting and moving to France.

He left after he reported one of the senior councillors to the Standards Board for England on allegations that were not upheld.

Soon after Mrs Dobson joined the town council in 2005 she helped win it Quality Council status.

She was not available to comment this week but the Gazette understands she has accepted the post of town clerk in Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast.

Mrs Dobson has two daughters and an elderly father living in Yorkshire.

Mr Fogg praised Mrs Dobson for the work she had done during her time as town clerk especially her success in gaining Quality Status. “I would like to thank her for all the work she has done for us,” he said. But he said the months that Mrs Dobson had been away sick had caused difficulties for the council.

He said: “I would like to thank all the rest of the council staff for keeping things going so magnificently but it will be nice to have a full time person back in the role.”

The council is to begin advertising for a replacement straight away.

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