On 12 Sep 2016 at 6:28am Gerty wrote:
Put myself through the agonising process of finding and reading the town council minutes on their website and found the council funds an administrator for the town partnership, one day a week work, at £7000 a year. Is that pro rata of £35000 a year? What do they do for this? Who manages them? Administrators in Brighton working 5 days a week for the council only get £17000 a year.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 7:11am Clerk wrote:
Good work finding that out - but surely only a low level clerk will earn £17k p.a ..And LDC must want a highly qualified person.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 7:18am Gerty wrote:
This isn't a clerk, it's an administrator.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 8:03am Southstreeter wrote:
What's a Town partnership ?
On 12 Sep 2016 at 8:10am Gerty wrote:
Don't know. But it appears we've funded someone to administer it at a cost of £70000 over the past 10 years so I'm sure the value to council tax payers far exceeds that.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 8:40am Tom we wrote:
This money wood be better spend on keeping this town clean
On 12 Sep 2016 at 9:24am Tom Pain wrote:
I,m sure someone who works for the council will tell us what the town partnership is......well maybe.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 11:10am mark2 wrote:
It's been mentioned on this forum that Transition Town Lewes has received 12000£ over the past few years - largely for office expenses I believe.
I think that LTC'S finance committee meetings should be open to the public and the dates of the meetings published instead of them being held behind closed doors. The funds awarded do seem a bit random at times and anyway should come under public scrutiny. It's our money after all. Last year it was also posted on this forum that LTC were about to fund a dodgy mindfulness group. I think they might have been actually using the LTC logo on their publicity material.
Any argument that the committee meetings have to be closed because of confidentiality doesn't really hold water since the
financial details of the proposed recipients of the grants can
still remain confidential.
I believe that suggestions for those who would benefit from LTC grants would be significantly widened should the whole process become open to the public.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 1:47pm Clifford wrote:
It would be interesting to know if this job was originally advertised and how many applicants there were. I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 4:04pm Will Elliott wrote:
Mark2: I have just drafted a motion for next full council that will ensure all meetings are scheduled well in advance, published in the local press and online clearly and are open to the public. It will also put an end to the confusion within LTC around what a Working Party is.
First step towards much more transparency (I hope)
On 12 Sep 2016 at 4:33pm mark 2 wrote:
Thanks Will. but will that include the Grants committee? - the objection to transparency there was the confidential nature of the financial reveals of applicants. Never really understood this because any sensitive stuff can of course be protected within the mechanics of an open committee. In point of fact the grants committee should be the most transparent. Yet at present the public knows absolutely nothing about how any decisions were made.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 5:34pm Gerty wrote:
Don't forget to read out the list of changes too Will.
On 12 Sep 2016 at 6:00pm trooper wrote:
It would appear that the word "Partnership" and the words "Lewes Town Council" bear no relationship to each other, and even less when the citizens of Lewes are concerned
Will Elliot first class work, congratulations on your efforts.
On 13 Sep 2016 at 1:51pm Will Elliott wrote:
Mark 2: good point - the grants panel shouldn't be 'in camera'? And the applications should be available on FOI too, redacted if relating to personal details but not financial position of groups who apply.