Friday 17 July 2009

Another one (potentially) bites the dust

My second question for the Council Meeting on 30th July is now also in doubt. I did want to ask the three Hartlepool Councilors who serve on the Cleveland Police Authority about the extra payments for the Chief Constable.

Apparently however there is no point asking Hartlepool's representatives on the Cleveland Police Authority (Councilors Barker, Tumilty and Wallace) about their input to the approval of the additional "honorarium" payments in cash and kind to the Cleveland Chief Constable!

The reason there is no point asking them as I am given to understand that none of the Councilors mentioned actually attended the relevant meeting. My question could therefore conceivably be allowed, but the answer would be a simple "No, I wasn't there"

I am not someone who thinks people should attend meetings that serve no purpose and indeed my own attendance at some committees has been questioned in the past. I have a simple hierarchy, does the subject of the meeting effect St.Hilda Ward. If the answer is "NO" then I may very well not attend. The Cleveland Police Authority however definitely affects ALL wards and to have all three of Hartlepool's representatives absent is a very poor show indeed! I won't even go into the issue of the substantial ADDITIONAL responsibilities allowance (Currently around £8,000 a year) these three Councilors are collecting while not being at the meeting!

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