Peel Town Commissioners dispute: Statement in full

The local authority issued a statement accusing one commissioner of making 'unfounded' personal attacks

Peel Town Commissioners has issued a statement, rebutting comments made by Commissioner Katryna Baptist after she took to social media to accuse the local authority of governance, transparency and accountability failures.

Here is Peel Town Commissioners statement in full:

The Board of Peel Town Commissioners (PTC) are deeply concerned about the comments made by Mrs. Katryna Baptist on social media on Sunday 22 March 2026 which are inaccurate and do not reflect the views of the Board.

Taking to social media is just the latest instance of Mrs. Baptist inappropriately trying to air issues that she perceives she has, through means other than those available to her and her PTC colleagues as elected Members of the PTC Board.

As far as the Board is concerned there are no transparency, accountability or governance concerns with respect to the business of PTC and were a Member to legitimately raise a material concern, it would be appropriately dealt with by the Board in accordance with its procedures.

The Minutes of PTC’s Board meetings are recorded and made available for inspection in accordance with the Local Government Act 1985 Local Government Act 1985 and PTC’s Standing Orders STANDING-ORDERS-Peel-Town-Commissioners-April-2022.pdf; additionally, where appropriate, PTC has regard to good practice as contained in the Department of Infrastructure’s Local Government Handbook (for Members and Officers of Local Authorities) (06.06.24) Local Government Handbook.

Minutes of the proceedings of all PTC’s ordinary meetings are circulated to the Members in advance of any subsequent Meeting at which they are to be signed by the Chair as a true record, and it is available to a Member to challenge the accuracy of Minutes by means of raising a motion, which has to be seconded before it can be debated. Mrs. Baptist has neither raised nor secured any amendments in accordance with these procedures, and all published Minutes have received Board approval.

Whilst much of Mrs. Baptist’s commentary is unattributed and anecdotal and therefore impossible to meaningfully engage with, the one example that she does give, i.e. the events stage on Peel beach later year, contrary to what she asserts on social media, was not subject to a vote at PTC’s Board Meeting 19 February 2026. Since this meeting, the February Minutes were unanimously approved by the Board at their March 2026 meeting last week.

In terms of PTC Members’ interests, these are disclosed either generally or in relation to a specific contract or matter and recorded in accordance with the Local Government Act 1985 Local Government Act 1985 and PTC’s Standing Orders STANDING-ORDERS-Peel-Town-Commissioners-April-2022.pdf; additionally, where appropriate, PTC has regard to good practice as contained in the Department of Infrastructure’s Local Government Handbook (for Members and Officers of Local Authorities) (06.06.24) Local Government Handbook.

Where Mrs. Baptist has raised issues in relation to conflicts of interest with the Board previously these have been addressed.

Mrs. Baptist has recently directed several serious allegations at staff and fellow Board Members around breaching standing orders and Local Government Act 1985 provisions. Following investigation, no breach of standing orders was found to have occurred, with no further action being required. Mrs. Baptist has been made aware of these decisions and remains unhappy with the conclusions.

In addition, at the Board meeting on 19 March 2026 the Board raised concerns in relation to Mrs. Baptist’s conduct around not following due process, incl. PTC’s complaint processes, and in a lack of engagement and progress in her PTC Event Lead Member Committee functions. The Board agreed on 19 March the that they had no confidence in Mrs. Baptist continuing her duties and unanimously RESOLVED that Mrs. Baptist be removed from the PTC Event Lead Member Committee and as Youth Representative, due to her continual inappropriate disruptive behaviour.

The allegations made by Mrs. Baptist in her social media post will be subject to an internal investigation following complaints from Members and Officers on both her misrepresentation of PTC’s statutory processes and the unfounded personal attacks on her colleagues.

There is currently a technical glitch which prevents PTC from posting its Minutes, updates etc. to its new website. PTC’s IT consultant is currently working on this, and they will continue to post PTC’s Minutes, updates etc. to the website until this has been resolved. All PTC’s approved Minutes have now been posted to the website.