Rocke
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That was the fortnight that wasNot a huge lot going on the week before last and since I enjoy trying to make these updates a rival to The Times crossword I thought I'd put the two together.
It's been more a case of constituency work than anything - fly tipping, housing issues, litter and of course the now mandatory 'ah, there's Rocke - let's ask/harangue/have a damn good argument with him about so-and-so'.
It staggers me how many people seem to think a councillor is there to have a go at.
Take this example 'I'm not happy about people speeding past my house'. 'You don't live in my ward', says I, 'so see Denzil or Jim and ask them. If you want me to pass on a message I'll happily do so'.
'Doesn't matter, Abertillery is terrible to drive through anyway. It's a right mess and the town's been made into a dump by you lot'. 'I'm not an Abertillery Ward councillor - you'll have to see John or Steve. I can comment on the general state of Aber because that affects us all but individual issues have to be taken up with the relevant ward member. It's the rules, not what we try to get out of'.
'Who are you councillor for then ?'. 'Cwmtillery'. 'Well that's a mess as well, can't you sort that out'.
The guy was serious. Sees someone with what he perceives as a bit of authority and decides to show how clever he is in front of an audience.
30 seconds later and he's walked out of the club with a flea in his ear.
Lo and behold, 30mins later I'm in another club ( again with Ruth ) and another prat decides to take me on. The roads, his mate's car and again someone who simply wants to do battle. Same routine, except this time Ruth shuts him up.
Unbelievably then this weekend I get a loudmouth telling me in front of everyone in the bar that 'every councillor exceppt Cllr. Rocke' has given money ( that's your money. mind, that this Council gets from adding a small amount to our CTax bills ) to a group.
I explain how I go around things - I wait until late in the year so that I can ensure as best I can that every deserving group, team, organisation etc. gets something. If my fellow councillors give a total of, say, £200 to a particular group then I'm likely either to not grant anything that particular year or give a small amount.
In this way those who don't apply until late in the year don't necessarily get less than those that are sharp and get in early.
Plus, as I quite clearly said - I don't buy votes. ( Not that any of my colleagues do as far as I'm concerned but it seems some people think it can be done ).
Sooner or later perhaps people will realise that I'm in it for the people of Cwmtillery and the borough in general, not myself.
Mind you, sometimes I do start to think that those 581 who voted me in might just as well have painted a target on my back.
Anyway, last week was back in the old routine.
Leisure Exec on Monday revealed some good things already happened and exciting times ahead.
The Triathlon event at Brynbach park hit the headlines in the Triathlon monthly magazine and it looks like we're firmly on the Tri map, having hosted national events in recent years.
Aber Blues looks to have not had a net drain on the budget ( it can't make a profit as such but the books look to have nicely balanced ).
Next year the biggie will be the Eisteddfod but a big commemoration event is planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Six Bells Disaster.
At that time it will be only 5 weeks to the Eisteddfod and I wonder whether we could hold a series of events that would take us fittingly from the sobering events of the past through to the celebration of culture of what will then be today.
Perhaps some form of heritage event(s) - our local choirs, children's play(s), our groups of thespians etc. etc.
It would be nice to see a whole week of events, especially since I think it might coincide wirth Aberfest.
Tuesday and it was the first formal committee meeting since the recess.
And things haven't changed.
Well they have - all Labour Group members turned up at the FIP meeting.
We discussed the change to our telep[hone system. Now when you ring 'The Civic' you actually get through to C2BG. The idea is that C2BG has all the equipment to monitor calls, abandonment rates etc. so we can look at where things are going wrong and correct them, making it easier for citizens.
What it also means is that Councillors can't now ask the nice ladies at Civic Reception to put them through to whosoever they want. Plus Councillors now have to listen to recorded messages and that muzak !
Disappointedly most members that spoke pressed this point home, rather than emphasising that what we were experiencing was what the public were.
One Member had actually timed how long it took to talk to a human without any 'you're in a queue' delay. 43 seconds apparently.
Lord help them if they ever contact any of the ISPs I often have to deal with. And there's no Krypton Factor-style' Press 1,2 or 3', 'Press 1 or 2', 'Press 1,2,3 or 4 or else hold' etc. etc.
Cllr Mccarthy came out with the best example.
Apparently he regularly walks his Ward ( I'm worried now, because he was spotted on Crook Hill last week I was told ) and when confronted by a citizen gets on the phone straight away. He was concerned that it didn't look good if he had to hang up, then call Members Services who could put him through to the relevant manager. Due to cuts apparently they were sometimes engaged or typing 3-page letters ( I wonder on whose behalf ? ) then he couldn't get them to transfer him.
So I'm thinking 'yes, he would look daft then'. After all, anyone with a mobile less than 10 years old will have a contact list. I'm sure he could put his top 20 in there.........
He wanted to know who was on the Customer Care Working Group and how it had come about.
Er... it was decided at one of the meetings he - and some of his cohorts - were absent from.
No-one from the Labour Group volunteered their services. What more can we do ?
We also had an item regarding making our workforce more efficient. That's nothing to do with our employees themselves but how we use them, and what we can do to make it easier for them to work. Home working, flexi-time, flexi-time without core hours and a few other intiatives have been trialled and hopefully this will go some way to enabling us to provide some services over longer hours and reduce absences and turnover because our hours of work might be very well suited to our employees' lifestyles. A great opportunity for me to play Devil's Advocate, which I did.
You see, I believe that the harder uyou hit something if it comes through it then it's solid and will reasonably stand the test of time.
After FIP we had a Joint Scrutiny to deal with our Corporate Improvement Plan. Every year councils have to come up with a plan of how they intend to provide either better services of services in a better way.
Depending on how well we do it we gets money from WAG's Improvement Fund or whatever it's called.
Last year we had the maximum amount, some £700,000-odd I think.
I've been a busy bunny putting together a plan for our area, which I've called '2020 Vision'. It's along the lines of a thread we had going some time ago. We make Abertillery a centre for Leisure and Culture.
We've the fundamental resources to do it - sports and arts organisations and there needs to be the political will. Cllr. Don Wilcox, Executive for Regeneration, has a copy I sent him in reply to some suggestions from Mark ( Edwards ). I don't believe Aber's economic situation will be resolved by one-off initiatives, good as they might be. We need a sustained level of visitors and for that we must make Aber a visitor-friendly town and area. That means significant shifts in attitude at all levels.
Hopefully the newly-formed 'Friends of Abertillery' will be hearing from us in the not-too-distant future.
Next year is our big chance and one we mustn't allow to pass by.
We're guaranteed to have quite a few visitors and we have to shown them how visitor-friendly this area is.
Thursday was the Agenda meeting for our Ed & Leis Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday. There's a few items that are likely to produce 'vibrant debate' and as usual I play the Devil's Advocate, trying to pre-empt questions. This is so that our officers can have as much info. as might be asked to hand, thereby allowing Members to be more informed at the meeting itself.
Friday saw the last of a highly successful series of training on what Scrutiny is all about, how to ask the right questions, how to effectively Chair meetings and collaboration.
Although Opposition should oppose and hold those in power accountable the theory of Executive and Scrutiny is that all non-Executive Members are the champions of the citizen and it is they that challenge the decisions made and/or influence decisions that are being taken.
It does of course often result in politics ie. 'ruling' Scrutiny members are most often heard praising decisions and 'opposition' councillors launch into tirades rubbishing decisions as being bad for the voters - sorry citizens.
We've a few interesting meeting coming up I think, especially with some of the subjects to be dealt with.
See you next week if I survive the weekend !
Cheers.
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