Friday, May 30, 2008
Cllr McCall must go!
I've taken some time off blogging while I concentrate on life at Home. Carole and I became parents again on the 27th April with a daughter, Olivia Isobel. Needless to say sleep is a precious commodity in the house just now.
There has been a lot of commotion in the letters pages this week of the MK News and MK Citizen about the opposition groups decision to stop Isobel McCall from forming a cabinet of her choice and the demands for her to step down as leader of the Lib Dem group. What many of the letters miss in terms of the salient points are:
1. As the Leader of ther Council she was directly responsible for overseeing the performance of John Best as Chief Executive of the "Paid Service" (the local government officials). She knew he wasn't taking an interest in the school build programme, and she therefore had a duty of care to the people of MK to ensure that that was rectified. She chose not to, which is a complete abrogation of her responsibilities as Leader of the Council. She is therefore culpable for John Best's failures as she did not manage him effectively.
2. The standard prpoject management process used in government is called PRINCE 2 (PRojects In Controlled Environments). That methodology requires a person called the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for a programme who in the case of the school build programme should have been Euan Henderson. He should then have been accountable for the progress of the project to his Council Leader, Isobel McCall. The fact that neither took an effective interest even when the Head Teacher of Giles Brook and the Constituency MP raised concerns is a failing on the part of both Cllr Henderson and Cllr McCall. The fact it took Cllr Henderson 18 months to conveine a project board is inexcuseable, as is the lack of oversight of Cllr McCall.
3. I'm appalled by the backroom deal that seems to have been struck between Cllrs Henderson and McCall whereby he would resign to save her skin and in return he would become Deputy Mayor this year, and usually succeed as Mayor in the following year. Unlike one correspondent to the MK Citizen's view of him, I do not consider him to be quite the noble person portrayed, certainly not if he is as culpable as the Penn report states and he has stood down as a Cabinet member only when offered a deal rather than out of a sense of conviction. Of course Cllr McCall will deny such a deal was ever struck, but nobody could be so stupid as to be fooled by that.
4. The costs that the Council have incurred putting Giles Brook right and the delays in Ousedale's Olney Campus have cost us the Council Tax payer an aversage of £20 each of their £1200 annual bill. That's almost 2% of your council tax bill wasted on incompetence and arrogance (not to mention the cost of John Best's pay-off, and if you want to add them Cllrs Henderson and McCall's councillors salaries as well).
It is entirely reasonable that both opposition parties seek to hold Cllr McCall accountable and to effectively suspend the process of normal business in the council chamber. I respect the fact that at the last election the Lib Dems held 21 seats in a chamber with no overall controll making them the largest party and that they should for the next year form the council administration, however it would be an insult to every tax payer if the one person who had ultimate and final responsibility for the safety and efficiency of the school build programme were allowed to stay in post after showing such appalling judgement, arrogance, and incompetence.
The answer to the Lib dem's problem is simple: acknowledge Cllr McCalls liability and nominate a new leader.
There has been a lot of commotion in the letters pages this week of the MK News and MK Citizen about the opposition groups decision to stop Isobel McCall from forming a cabinet of her choice and the demands for her to step down as leader of the Lib Dem group. What many of the letters miss in terms of the salient points are:
1. As the Leader of ther Council she was directly responsible for overseeing the performance of John Best as Chief Executive of the "Paid Service" (the local government officials). She knew he wasn't taking an interest in the school build programme, and she therefore had a duty of care to the people of MK to ensure that that was rectified. She chose not to, which is a complete abrogation of her responsibilities as Leader of the Council. She is therefore culpable for John Best's failures as she did not manage him effectively.
2. The standard prpoject management process used in government is called PRINCE 2 (PRojects In Controlled Environments). That methodology requires a person called the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for a programme who in the case of the school build programme should have been Euan Henderson. He should then have been accountable for the progress of the project to his Council Leader, Isobel McCall. The fact that neither took an effective interest even when the Head Teacher of Giles Brook and the Constituency MP raised concerns is a failing on the part of both Cllr Henderson and Cllr McCall. The fact it took Cllr Henderson 18 months to conveine a project board is inexcuseable, as is the lack of oversight of Cllr McCall.
3. I'm appalled by the backroom deal that seems to have been struck between Cllrs Henderson and McCall whereby he would resign to save her skin and in return he would become Deputy Mayor this year, and usually succeed as Mayor in the following year. Unlike one correspondent to the MK Citizen's view of him, I do not consider him to be quite the noble person portrayed, certainly not if he is as culpable as the Penn report states and he has stood down as a Cabinet member only when offered a deal rather than out of a sense of conviction. Of course Cllr McCall will deny such a deal was ever struck, but nobody could be so stupid as to be fooled by that.
4. The costs that the Council have incurred putting Giles Brook right and the delays in Ousedale's Olney Campus have cost us the Council Tax payer an aversage of £20 each of their £1200 annual bill. That's almost 2% of your council tax bill wasted on incompetence and arrogance (not to mention the cost of John Best's pay-off, and if you want to add them Cllrs Henderson and McCall's councillors salaries as well).
It is entirely reasonable that both opposition parties seek to hold Cllr McCall accountable and to effectively suspend the process of normal business in the council chamber. I respect the fact that at the last election the Lib Dems held 21 seats in a chamber with no overall controll making them the largest party and that they should for the next year form the council administration, however it would be an insult to every tax payer if the one person who had ultimate and final responsibility for the safety and efficiency of the school build programme were allowed to stay in post after showing such appalling judgement, arrogance, and incompetence.
The answer to the Lib dem's problem is simple: acknowledge Cllr McCalls liability and nominate a new leader.
