Staffing is set to feature high up the Midsomer Norton Town Council agenda, as Councillors prepare for the second meeting of the new Town Council since the local elections. The agenda for the Full Council meeting, scheduled for Monday, June 5, hasn't been published yet, but it is anticipated that a review of the staffing structure will be a priority, with resolutions taken before the local elections to address this problem.

The Town Councils staffing struggles have been on the agenda for some time, following the resignations of the former Clerk, Donna Ford, and her Deputy, Amanda Hazell, at the start of the year. At the March Full Council meeting, Councillors agreed to "undertake a full organisational and staffing restructure for Midsomer Norton Town Council at the June meeting of the new Council".

Following the Extraordinary Town Council meeting on March 20, the Locum Clerk, Paul Russell, explained that the Town Council: "Has gone from two full time and two part time officers, to three part timers".

Staffing was also considered at the Full Council meeting on April 3, when councillors agreed to recommend the implementation of the Organisational and Staffing Structure Brief and tender documents "to the new Council following the election."

The impact of limited personnel became apparent on May 15, at the first Town Council meeting since the local elections, where tempers flared over the Town Councils procedures. Speaking in the debate the Locum Clerk stated: "The questioning and the scrutiny at this point is to be frank, inappropriate because it is the responsibility of members to understand what is part of what makes the Council up. That's the role and that will take some time, because I've been here since January, the end of January, and I'm still trying to get to grips with what this Council does and how it does it. So it's not an easy process and I'm giving it 20-25 hours a week."

The impact of staffing has been given clarity with news that Civic Awards have been postponed,