Time for BBI to listen and learn...

After all the to-ing and fro-ing with the office accommodation at Worst Street, we welcome the arrival at work today of Richard Harbord for six months as Interim Chief Executive at Boston Borough Council.
Talk about a poisoned chalice!
Mr Harbord arrives at a time when when the council is at its lowest ebb.
After a series of damning reports by the Audit Commission, some feel that the borough is a hairsbreadth away from some sort of official intervention in its affairs before it is declared to be a failing council.
Council Leader Richard "Papa Dick" Austin said of Mr Harbord's appointment: “I’m delighted to welcome Richard Harbord as the interim Chief Executive. He has a wealth of experience and that will be a great value to our borough in the months ahead.
“This is a crucial time for the council and to have somebody with Richard’s experience both in finance and local government, who can look independently at merged services and market testing, will be crucial.”
Dead right there, Councillor Austin, and we just hope that you and your colleagues will listen in a way that you clearly haven't before - previously preferring to keep a dog but bark yourselves.
Mr Harbord has worked in eight local authorities in London and the south east.
He is also a qualified accountant and a member of the Institute of Rating, Revenues and Valuation, Institute of Management Information systems and the Institute of Management Consultants.
He also has two master of philosophy research degrees and is on the Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, the professional body for people in public finance, and Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation. He lectures and writes on local government issues, mainly on management and finance but has also worked extensively on emergency planning and business continuity and is the architect of the current resilience arrangements in London. He worked on the civil contingencies act at the cabinet office.
Mr Harbord is widely known in local government and central government departments. He is a past president of the Society of London Treasurers, Society of Metropolitan Treasurers and Institute of Rating Revenues and Valuation. We particularly like a phrase used by Mr Harbord six years ago in an article in "Public Eye," the public sector newsletter of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, which was reprinted in the Guardian newspaper.
He wrote: "Every organisation, big or small, needs plans."
He must have had Boston in mind.
We hope the BBI leadership will keep a still tongue in a wise head and let Mr Harbord get on with his job.
If we can offer any advice when dealing with the leadership, we would offer this cleaned up quote from Elmore Leonard: "Too often, we lose sight of life's simple pleasures. Remember, when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown BUT, it only takes four muscles to extend your arm and slap him/her upside the head..."


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