A COUNCILLOR found to have breached his authority’s code of conduct is due to find out his fate from 2pm today. 

Earlier the independent Adjudication Panel for Wales found Councillor Gary Price had brought the office of councillor and Powys County Council into disrepute. The Conservative councillor  could now be suspended from the council with local government elections looming in May. 

The three member panel, that met yesterday and today in Llandrindod Wells, said Cllr Price has been acting as a elected member when he wrote a letter to a former council employee that misrepresented how a council grievance appeal panel he was part of dealt with her complaints against her then employer. 

The chair of today’s hearing, Claire Jones, said Cllr Price had also failed to show respect to councillors Kath Roberts Jones and Michael Williams who sat on the grievance panel with him and said he’d undermined the process. 

Ms Jones told Cllr Price: "We find you brought the office of councillor and the council into disrepute." O 

Referring to the letter sent to the former employee, referred to only as Ms X, the chair said: "This could have led to serious consequences as you were discussing formal procedures affecting employment." 

Conservative Councillor Price could be suspended from the council for a maximum of six months when the panel returns to the hearing at the Welsh Government Building in Llandrindod Wells at 2pm. 

Alternatively the council could agree on a shorter suspension or decide to take no action at all against the Llandrindod North ward councillor who also sits on the town council. 

The panel was also told Cllr Price was suspended from the council for one month in May 2013 after he was found to have breached the code of conduct by sharing "confidential information" with the media. 

Cllr Price was originally suspended by the council’s own standards committee, for five months, in November last year but he appealed prompting this week’s hearing before the independent panel.