Onchan Commissioners spent £8,500 on legal advice concerning members’ conduct in just over a year.

The information was revealed by a Freedom of Information request and covers costs between August 1, 2021, and December 8, 2022.

It also revealed that two commissioners submitted complaints against two fellow board members.

These incidents were reported on June 14 last year and were resolved on December 9.

After the June 2022 board meeting it was decided that the clerk was the only officer who would sit in the meetings until he felt there had been an ‘acceptable improvement’ in commissioners’ conduct.

During the private session of the September 2022 board meeting, the local authority allowed a new standing order to be drafted, a corporate governance principles and code of conduct policy to incorporate improvements relating to improved member conduct.

At present under the authority’s Standing Order 2.2, the ‘conduct’ of an authority employee is not recorded in the public minutes unless the authority has ‘otherwise determined’.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service, which provides news for most Manx media, has asked the commissioners to comment.