A FURORE has erupted following claims that a vote was rigged in a town council chamber.

Tywyn Town Council was in uproar after accusations of “predetermination” were made about the selection of the council’s new vice-chair.

The debate erupted following Cllr Eileen Jones’ election as vice-chair at this month’s town council meeting.

Cllr Nancy Clarke had been voted in as chair following her term as vice-chair.

However, both Cllr Jones and Cllr John Pughe were proposed for the role as vice-chair, with an eventual vote finding in favour of Cllr Jones (6-4), a decision which was accepted by the council.

Shortly after, when discussing proposed dates for forthcoming town council meetings, Cllr Clarke appeared to suggest that she already knew who was going to be vice-chair before the council meeting had even taken place.

The debate surrounded a change of date for June’s town council meeting, which usually takes place on the second Wednesday of the month (13 June in this case).

The newly-elected chair said: “You will note that the town council meeting for June is listed as the 20th, not the 13th.

“The reason for that is because I’m on holiday in Poland at that time and Cllr Jones has only just taken on the role of vice-chair so it makes sense to postpone it. Is that OK with everyone?”

Cllr Pughe was quick to jump on Cllr Clarke’s comment.

“Well no, I’m not okay because that would imply you already knew who the vice-chair would be,” he said.

“Any one of us could have been voted as vice-chair so how did you know to postpone? Maybe the vice-chair would have been happy to chair that council meeting?”

Cllr Quentin Deakin, who had voted for Cllr Pughe for vice chair minutes earlier, agreed and said: “I also drew that inference”.

Cllr Mike Stevens added: “This does smack of predetermination, that a few councillors got together beforehand to work out who would be chair and vice-chair.”

At this point, council clerk Francesca Pridding pointed out that the actual reason the meeting had been postponed was that members of the town council were due to be involved in a mediation that day and would therefore not be available to attend a council meeting that evening.

The Cambrian News understands that the mediation is regarding the ongoing ‘adverse land possession’ claim that the town council is involved with at Ynysmaengwyn.

Replying to the clerk, Cllr Stevens said: “Well that’s fine, I fully accept that as a reason to delay the meeting but that is not what the chair said.

“She said it was because she was on holiday and Cllr Jones shouldn’t be expected to chair as she is inexperienced.”

Cllr Deakin added: “That is clearly what you said.”

The council chair then apologised.

“If that is what the council understood then that is my fault, I apologise for misleading them,” said Cllr Clarke.

“The decision to postpone the meeting by a week has nothing to do with who is chair or vice-chair.”

The council was then asked to accept the proposed council meeting dates for the 2018/19 calendar.

The proposal was accepted overall but Cllr Stevens, Cllr Deakin, and Cllr Pughe all voted against the motion.