My opinions on Morecambe Town Council and the dominance of a party called Morecambe Bay Independents are well documented. Firstly, I am concerned that this party has not published its constitution. It acts like a party but gets elected partly because it opposes party politics. Secondly there is no effective opposition on the Town Council to this party with no coherent policies. Thirdly, the council has been very slow in getting its website working. On the 19th December last year I wrote a blog about the Council's website as I was picking up requests for information as I had written about the council previously and had been found on an internet search.
I am pleased to say that their website has moved on a little but one of the reasons for the slow progress has been related to the problems with the clerk to the council. My comments for the discussion board are still not published. At least we know that the delays are not caused by the ruling MBIs. Well in today's Lancaster Guardian I read that a standards watchdog is investigating six of the town councillors following a complaint from the former leader of this party. "She says the six councillors bullied a former town council clerk in emails and correspondence in private meetings and at meetings of the town council and its finance and management committee".
The article goes on to say that all six councillors deny the allegations but all six cannot say anything else because of the ongoing investigation. I understand the need for media coverage to be unbiased so that the investigation is not corrupted, but how does a complete denial of any wrongdoing not jeopardise any inquiry?
I don't know if the former leader of the MBIs is correct in her allegations but with effectively only one party in council it is going to be very hard to hear any organised support for her opposing view. Let's see what the standards watchdog comes up with. It seems we will find out within six months.
Change the world
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Michael,
ReplyDeleteWhere are the MTC annual accounts for 2009-10?
Are they on the MTC website for instance?
On what grounds did MTC terminate the contract of the former Town Clerk Vicky Errington at the end of her 6 month probationary period?
What hours per week was the Town Clerk position and the salary?
Why have MTC not advertised the Town Clerk position since terminating Vickys employment in compliance with government equal opportunities policies?
What criteria did MTC use to appoint an acting Town Clerk and what employment experience and skills did the person who they appointed have to fulfill the responsibilities of the position?
What are the hours of work of the acting Town Clerk the salary and what is the duration of the acting period?
The acting Town Clerk is recently retired City Council Tourism Officer Keith Lamb who is a member of the Poulton Freemason Lodge (but thats just a conspiracy theory eh Michael; lol!!!!!)
Look forward to reading your response to these questions of public accountability Michael.
You raise some very important points Anonymous, and I would hope that we will hear more when the standards watchdog reports back. These points are important on a number of levels, but there are probably a lot of "no comments" around at the moment, notwithstanding a website that is basic to say the least.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you didn't manage to join the local lodge. I have been told about the handshakes but that is as far as I got.
If they had had asked me to join their satanic cult I'd have told them were to go Michael.
ReplyDeleteI find secrecy and societies with secrets repugnant in a supposedly educated and civilised society.
Hiram Abif
I hope the irony has not passed you by when you complain about secrecy and sign off as Anonymous.
ReplyDelete