Welcome after the Christmas break. As promised in the previous article- we start the year with a summary of councillor attendance at STC meetings last year. If you would like to compare this year’s engagement of individual councillors with the previous year, then the 2020 report can be found here: https://shirebrook247.com/stc-councillors-attendance-in-2020/
The last few months have allowed me to look at the work of councillors from an entirely new perspective. I wrote the 2020 article as an outside observer of our elected members’ activities on the town council. Therefore I think I was much more lenient in my assessment. However, today I am writing this article as a member of that council, so this year I will be much stricter in my judgment. It seems that people who represent local communities should lead by example, so they need to present the highest standards possible. When you enter the public arena, you should do so in the knowledge that you will have to sacrifice your time and your privacy for the good of the entire community.
For this reason, I have raised the threshold slightly above which I consider councillor attendance to be “decent”. I emphasise- my assessment is subjective and in no way linked to any law applicable to councillors.
When comparing 2021 with 2020, it can be seen that the number of meetings has increased, and at the same time, the attendance rate of councillors at meetings has decreased. However, readers need to know that councillors are not required to attend all meetings. It is generally recognised that Councillors should be present at all Ordinary Full meetings and at all meetings of committees to which they are assigned as members. In addition, councillors have the right to be present and speak at committees of which they are not members but do not have the right to vote at those meetings. Therefore, it is common for councillors to have high attendance at “their” committee meetings and general council meetings, but never or rarely attend meetings of committees of which they are not members.
Please also bear in mind that councillors are also only human. Although I am proud of my attendance record, and I point an accusing finger at those councillors who fail to fulfil their duties, I must stress that everyone can have an accident, illness or family emergency. I hold myself to the highest possible standards so that those who voted for me can confidently think they have chosen well. Still, I am aware that sooner or later, something will happen that will prevent me from attending a council meeting.
GOOD ATTENDANCE (green) 2 councillors
In 2021 there were only two councillors with 100% attendance at all meetings. As I am the self-proclaimed Leader of the Opposition in STC- I try to be at every meeting to know everything that is going on- hence my presence in this group. The other member of the elite “100%” group is Cllr Chris Kane- Leader of STC and probably Leader of the Labour Party in Shirebrook, who also wants to know first hand what is going on.
At this point, I must emphasise that the statistics presented here say a lot about the involvement of individual councillors but little about the quality of their work. Cllr Chris Kane is the best example of this – on paper, he looks like a good councillor. Still, everyone who has encountered his outbursts of aggression, shouts, threats against councillors who sometimes have a slightly different opinion from him in the Chamber knows that this councillor does not have the quality of a good leader (such outbursts of aggression happened surprisingly often in 2021 and not only towards me). All in all, socialists have historically been known to lead by “fear”, not by example, and a sensible policy, so maybe intimidation, threats, and shouting are Labour Party standards.
If we accept that leaders set the tone for how the group operates, then judge the quality of Cllr Chris Kane’s leadership by these few facts. Shirebrook has the highest taxes in the District, highest crime in the District, highest Parish Council operating costs in the District, highest Parish Council employee wages bill in the District, highest Covid death rate in the District, highest debt in the District, lowest cash reserves among the four largest Parish Council in the District. That’s is the price of failed leadership! WE all pay for it.
ACCEPTABLE ATTENDANCE (yellow) 6 councillors
The second group are councillors with a decent attendance percentage at all meetings. It is easy to notice that these councillors are present at meetings of the “Full” type and their committees but entirely skip committees that they are not members of. Therefore, no one should have the slightest objection to the involvement of these councillors – they do what they should (at least in terms of presence).
BAD ATTENDANCE (orange) 3 councillors
The next group is a group of councillors whose presence at meetings may raise minor reservations. In this group, some councillors skip meetings of committees that they are not members of and sometimes skip Full meetings and meetings of their committees. It is worth noting, however, that in this group, all councillors noted above 50% attendance. I call it bad but in reality, it’s satisfactory.
CRITICAL ATTENDANCE (red) 5 councillors
A councillor once told me that if I wrote about him one more time, he “knows where I live”. His attendance at STC meetings? 30%. His name? Carl Talbot. He won byelections with a massive advantage over me. Yet- his attendance margin compared to mine is abysmal. He won just because he had a Labour badge beside his name. As I wrote about him right after the first STC meeting after byelection: “If you think a new generation of Labour councillors could bring change- don’t hold your breath. (…) It’s like he is there just to provide a vote for the same, old Labour.” I was soooo right about him…
According to Google Analytics, the article in which I wrote these words is, at the moment, the fifth most widely read article on my blog.
If you haven’t read it, I strongly encourage you to do so, because even though I wrote it many months ago, it is still up to date: https://shirebrook247.com/shirebrook-in-crisis-debt-financial-crime-leadership-and-identity/
BEST AND WORST
Perhaps, as the only opposition member in the STC, I should not name the ruling majority councillors who appear at meetings regularly and always bring something positive to the discussion. However, I ran for the seat promising to increase the transparency of the STC, so I guess I have to inform the uninformed Labor Party members and voters which of their “chosen ones” are doing a good job, who should improve, and which one should think about change or ending of a “political career”.
Before nominating the best and worst, I want to emphasise that most Labor Party councillors are doing their job satisfactorily. Most of my complaints do not relate to their involvement in STC activities. Their only problem is the policies they support. They focus on masking debts, having fun, parties, and fireworks instead of focusing on what the residents expect – crime, cutting huge expenses and cutting taxes. If they had stopped insisting on increasing debt and spending and focused on preventing crime, I would have very little to pick on.
So, in my opinion, the most substantive councillors on the other side of the room are Brian Murray-Carr, Fred Gobey, Pauline Chapman and Sandra Peake. When they speak, I know that I will not hear anything shabby about me, and certainly something substantive and expressed with impeccable culture – even if they disagree with me.
I was hesitant to add Dale Smith to this group as well, but I chose not to do so because of his incredibly annoying manner of responding to any objection to Labor Party politics with the phrase “people will vote for us anyway.” The highest taxes in the District? People will vote for us anyway! Labour do nothing about the crime wave? People will vote for us anyway! STC spends twice more on wages than anyone else in District? People will vote for us anyway! The biggest debt? People will vote for us anyway! This is not how political discourse should be conducted. It’s incredibly annoying and irresponsible.
When nominating the worst councillors, I had no problem with the choice. Cllr Chris Kane- for outbursts of aggression and threats against me. Cllr Carl Talbot- for low attendance and threats against me. Cllr John Lewis – for the constant transfer of political discussions to the national level (in my opinion, councillors should talk about what is happening in their ward and not about what is happening in London). Cllr Ken Walker for low attendance and negligible participation in discussions when present in the room.
NEXT WEEK ON S247
On the 12th of January, STC will hold one of the most important meetings- the “precept” meeting. At this meeting, the Committee will recommend to the entire council possible changes to local tax, decide on spending priorities, etc. After this meeting, we will find out whether the pressure I am putting on cuts in STC spending and withholding tax increases worked. Will the party, which allegedly represents the poorest’s interests, again put pressure on its electorate with another tax raise? Or, for the first time in years, will they listen to the residents (and opposition councillor) who say – WE HAVE ENOUGH TAX INCREASES IN A TOWN WHICH ALREADY PAYS THE BIGGEST TAXES IN THE DISTRICT. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com
