A Time of Two Halves

In the end I didn’t get to the ceremonial council this year but it must have been very strange.  Some of you will be aware that the Lord Mayor Denis James had just died so it would have been one of the few times, if ever, where the incumbent would not be able to pass on to the new Lord Mayor.  I was however able to go to the funeral, where I was privileged to hear about Denis’ life, especially through his son.

Other than that it’s been half & half over the last two weeks – 3 ‘indoors’ and 3 ‘outdoors’.

‘Indoors’ I went to a very useful & interesting session on Child Protection, which was held in Seaview Community School so it meant I also met up again with parents, teachers and other governors.  This week I went to the Well-being & Attainment ‘round table’ where all the relevant professionals gathered to give their input, and this will help us make the best recommendations to go to Cabinet.  And finally Democratic Services.  This is one committee I get a lot out of as it looks at the organisation that backs the work of councillors, and as such it’s more practical so I feel I can get my teeth into it more.

‘Outdoors’ I’ve had my usual council surgery, attended the first Mobile Police Station – this is where a highly visible police van parks in the community so people can come to get help & advice from the police and anyone else there such as councillors.  And finally a very useful meeting looking at an ongoing car park issue which I feel certainly went a long way towards resolving it – amazing what you can do when people come together!

Les

A Whole Year!

Where has the time gone? It does seem quite incredible that I have now been on the council for 12 months.

Last night we had the AGM of full council, so I now know what committees I will be on for the coming municipal year, the same as before plus the Audit Committee.  (I have a role description for this but you can never really get to grips with the purpose of a particular committee until you start going – so watch this space!)  I’m still waiting to hear if I will be the local authority representative on any other organisations that have links with the council – neither of those I was on last year panned out.

In the meantime I have also joined another scrutiny panel Corporate Improvement Budget Performance (what a mouthful!)  Whilst the words have meaning it will be interesting to see what we will be specifically looking at.  Again, I’ll keep you posted.

Now for an exciting Friday afternoon task to finish the working week – enter dates in my diary!

Les