Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Town Clerk to retire
Minutes of the recent Policy and Planning meeting (21 December 2009) recorded that the Town Clerk is proposing to retire in March 2010, subject to details being resolved. The current Deputy Town Clerk, Martin Ayres, would be appointed Acting Town Clerk for a minimum period of six months.
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15 comments:
Interesting news, though far from unexpected.
That would mean he would not be around if there are any of the consequences that some have feared following the sale of the municipal caravan park.
How does one obtain minutes of these meetings?
The most up to date ones on the council's website seem to be from the meeting in early November - which is appalling.
Well, well.............I have been proven right. I first broke this news six weeks ago on this blog.
Swanage Town Council needs to realise that its citizens know more about what is going on behind the scenes than it thinks. To use a topical analogy, the Town Hall leaks like a frozen water pipe!
Any consequences from the sale of SBV, and other such matters, will now be faced by the town council and Martin Ayres (who is quite a bright chap). I wonder what matters have to be concluded to retire AL?
You can use FofI to obtain minutes of meetings, though a lot of back room deliberations are left off (especially those involving employment issues). Assume it will all be done neatly and discretely.
You don't need FOI to get minutes. There's nothing secret about them, although they are only brief summaries of conclusions reached rather than a report of all the debate. For that, you'd have to go the meetings.Minutes are all (eventually) published on the Council website. Or you can just ask at the Town Hall and they'll give you a copy. ... in fact, if loads of people were asking for them because they weren't on the website, perhaps they would start putting them up more quickly.
Have to say that I would be sorry to see the Town Clerk go. I think he's done well sorting out all the mass of problems that are involved with running a town. Of course, not everything goes smoothly. I had hoped that once the Bayview had gone, he would have more time to focus on the town. Because it's been sadly neglected, in my opinion, because so much time was spent running the caravan park. But I would imagine that Martin is going to be pretty stretched. And who is going to do all the work that the Assistant Town Clerk used to do?
Postman - I know that Minutes can be obtained from the Council website as well as from Meetings and from the Town Hall. But, as you know so well, certain items on the Agenda are held 'in camera', without public participation or presence, that these go largely unreported in the Minutes and we have little idea what is discussed or decided. This practice has become rife over the past year or so. Hence the Minutes and Meetings are not as fully open to the public as some would like to purport.
Martin will have a tough six months until the next Town Clerk is appointed, which must be done through an open and transparent process. I hope he will receive the help he needs from within the Town Hall. There is a lot that must be done in Swanage; as you say, SBV has rather taken the TC's eye off the ball a bit re: the Town proper.
I wish Alan well for the future; but I also think the town is due for a change in Town Clerk as well, as a fresh approach to the Town's future in these uncertain times is needed.
Well, well, this raises the issue of STC's appointment policies and procedures. Has anyone ever seen their equal opportunities policy for example. As we saw with the appointment of a manager of the caravan site not very long ago their practices are those of 1910 not 2010. Given this there will in all probability be two sets of requirements, the open list - qualifications and experience etc, and the closed one - white, male, preferably a mason, heterosexual. I could probably add christian. I am sorry if this is unduly critical. Perhaps the postman can tell me I am wrong and applications will be considered without the shortlisters being aware of the age, gender, marital status, names and ethic background of the candidates, all of which are irrelevant to their ability to perform the duties of the post. (my consultancy fees to set up a modern system are very reasonable.)
I think everyone can be sure that the Town Council will abide by the national employment law on equal opportunities and any other issues.
Why? They didn't on the last 2 managers appointed to SBVHP.
How will they demonstrate this? Without proper policies and procedures there is no way in which they can demonstrate they have acted correctly. I know there are many who will jump up and down and parrot "political correctness gone mad" at any suggestion that things have moved on in recruitment. Why is it that Swanage seems to think it can exist in a parallel universe in which issues of fairness can be ignored. There are endless reports of people being appointed to posts without a proper open recruitment process being followed.
This is a vital appointment for Swanage over the next ten or twenty years. I think we are entitled to know how STC will go about making it with something stronger than an assurance that they will not deliberately break the law. This is an area where they need to generate the paperwork to show they have acted correctly and there is nothing to suggest they are going to be able to do this. Let us suppose a disgruntled applicant claims discrimination. How will they go about proving their process was above reproach. As I said in my first post, when did we ever see any tangible sign of commitment to equal opportunities in employment at senior level in this organisation? Can someone point me to a copy of their equal opportunities policy and the documents setting out how it is to be applied?
Can anyone tell me if Swanage is an accredited Quality Council, whether it is working towards this status or whether it wants nothing to do with such fripperies.
The only reference I could find to your query is this:
http://www.swanage.gov.uk/fr.asp?section=council&topnav=Performance%20Indicators%20and%20Targets%20&basenav=home&pg=156&sec=council
in which reference is made to aspects of the Quailty Council initiative, but does no state whether STC is accredited by it.
A reminder, folks: Swanage has a PARISH, not TOWN council. The name is somewhat of a misnomer.
Perhaps Mike has more information about the QC initiative.
To the best of my knowledge, Swanage Town Council is not yet a Quality Council, though is working towards it. Although the government abolished the Best Value system a few years ago, the Council still follows the same essential principles, as monitored by the District Auditor.
PIcking up the comment about the procedure for the appointment of a new Town Clerk, if anyone has any concerns, perhaps the best thing is probably to write to the present Town Clerk, copying various people, such as the Assitant Town Clerk and the Mayor (all c/o the Town Hall), and perhaps also the District Auditor (not sure of the address, but no doubt c/o Town Hall would get there) and maybe the MP, Jim Knight.
Postman - you may have also read comments here and elsewhere to the effect that the Town Clerk has not always answered correspondence in a timely and correct manner. This is one reason why some may be happy to see him leave. I agree with you that anything sent to him should be copied to others, but I would suggest that these not be sent en masse to the TC, but to the individuals themselves, to ensure they are passed on.
The District Auditor is Mr Simon Garlick, who works from several offices but whose proper address is Audit Commission, Collins House, Bishopstoke Rd, Eastleigh, HANTS SO50 6AD. He is IMHO the top official to oversee this appointment.
'Minutes of the recent Policy and Planning meeting (21 December 2009) recorded that the Town Clerk is proposing to retire in March 2010, subject to details being resolved. The current Deputy Town Clerk, Martin Ayres, would be appointed Acting Town Clerk for a minimum period of six months'.
Is Mr Leeson of retirement age then? If not, it will be interesting to know on what grounds he is 'proposing' to retire. This is particularly relevant given public sector stringencies especially when early retirement is almost always the most expensive option for an employer.
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