An independent audit, costing the town more than £7,000, has been carried out because the mayor, Coun Graham Francis and Town Clerk Graham Gittins had not adhered to the council's accounting rules. Should these two people be removed, or should they be made to pay the £7,000
yes sack them and make them pay - there is no - no excuse for this sort of behaviour - it is an honour and privilege to serve on any council - the practices of these officers need to be sqeeky clean. the general public are getting completedly pissed off with this sort of behaviour from politicians, public servants and councillors - it's about time the ordinary man/woman in the street demanded justice and honesty from those who claim to represent us and our own high standards of morality!
we have been pushed around and decieved for too long - the worm must turn!
Whilst not quite so passionate on the subject as garabaldi, I basically agree with him/her.
It would be nice if both these gentlemen at least acknowledged their error, publicly apologise and perhaps even suggest the way they will reimburse the out of pocket tax payer of Marlborough. They should then both do the decent thing and resign. However I doubt if they will do any of these and, if so, their fate (well at least the mayor's) will be in the hands of the electorate.
That is a good point. At the end of the day it is up to the people of Marlborough to decide. Lets hope it isn't just swept under the carpet and forgotten about
I wrote the original question a few days ago but had forgot to log in… I think some sort of action should be taken. I don’t know if the £7,000 has to come from the council ‘purse’ but some one or a charity may loose out, so I think these two individuals should pay the money back, or make a contribution
For what it is worth, I proposed a motion which expressed regret to the electorate for the financial mismanagement, sadly the motion was defeated because only four of the 16 councillors supported the motion. What does that say I wonder?!
As part of the Marlborough, MA contingent that visited your beautiful town for the celebration,for what it's worth, I'd like to propose another option.
Without meddling in our sister city's affairs, of course... when you consider the success of the celebration, I think that Mayor Francis and all of the Councilors should be commended (along with the entire committee!) for a job well done.
Any project the magnitude of your 800-year celebration is bound to incur unanticipated costs to ensure its success, and I'm sure some very difficult decisions were made at the 11th hour.
I have to believe that the event brought significant revenue to the town and this should be factored in as people judge the decisions that were made. Sometimes it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission!
As one of the Town Councillors, I agree with you that they were indeed memorable celebrations.
However as you well know in your own country, irregularities of a financial nature in any level of government is unacceptable as it is money that belongs to the local taxpayers.
If you had placed a verbal order with a company that then went bankrupt, followed it by placing a further verbal order with a company run by the same person as the previous bankrupt company, and then turned down a free offer for the same service (which would have saved £8,000) without telling anyone ..... would you really just turn a blind eye to it all and accept it?
Oh yes, I nearly forgot, the commemorative brochure was not 'last minute' ... it was three years in the planning and the verbal order was placed some months before the event .... there was no tendering process, no official order placed until after an invoice was received .... and the person who arranged it all knew the man who ran the companies concerned!
In a great country such as yours with its fond affection for litigation ..... I think not!!
Best wishes to you all from the UK and we hope to see you all again soon!
