Communication is name of the game ...

What follows is a tale of three councillors - or rather two councillors and an ex-councillor.
Councillor Number One is Better Boston Group councillor Paddy Rush, who has replied to criticisms of his performance made by a group calling itself "We love Boston."
The e-mail prompted us here at Boston Eye to examine Councillor Rush's attendance record, and found that according to the published minutes he has attended only one meeting of a possible nine gatherings of BTAC - the Boston Town Area Committee, and three out of the eight full council meetings for which minutes are available to the public.
Councillor Rush has now told us:
"Firstly I apologies for my late response, I was very surprised and disappointed to receive your email. Whilst I appreciate that you would feel obliged to notify me of such a scenario as has been indicated. The first allegation regarding me living in Cambridge (made by 'We love Boston') is completely untrue, I have never lived in Cambridge and live locally, therefore I also do not claim travel allowances, I am willing to explain where I have claimed for expenses if you require and this was only to cover actual additional travel to attend meetings. Finally with reference to my attendance, it is with regret that I cannot attend more meetings but I have a job which requires me to work unsociable shifts making it difficult at times but I always attend when I can and ensure I am up to date with the issues we are dealing with, and work very closely and regularly with my political group (BBG) and I continue to work within my ward on constituency issues."
We don't want to continue banging this particular drum much longer - but we would say that to take on a job as a councillor when one's work hours will make attendance at meetings almost impossible makes the decision to seek office questionable.
In the piece we wrote before the bank holiday, we pointed out that only one other councillor has fewer committee responsibilities that Councillor Rush.
Enter Councillor Number Two - the BNP representative for Fenside, Councillor David Owens who, as we pointed out only has less on his plate because of party political prejudice by the Bypass Independents who refuse to appoint him to any other committees. Councillor Owens declares on the borough website that he "is looking to gain permission to sit on many more, should council permit."
Now he has set up a blog of his own, and you can read it by clicking here. Like other members who blog, Councillor Owens has begun by setting his sights on one of the mysterious groups who appear to take decisions without anyone apparently being consulted - in this case something called the Community Cohesion Delivery Group.
We've said before that we have nothing but praise for councillors who have taken up blogging. Sadly one has been shut down pro tem after a politically motivated complaint, whilst another goes from strength to strength - and blogging brings us to ...
Ex Councillor Number Three - former Tory member for Boston North West on Lincolnshire County Council, Andrea Jenkyns, who was forced to resign after the local Labour Party dredged up a minor technicality surrounding her election.
Miss Jenkyns has already announced her intention to stand again at the by-election, which has been scheduled for 15th October - six and a half weeks away.
In the meantime, she is continuing to blog, to keep her former constituents up-to-date, and has just published an update of recent issues she has reported to the county's Highways Department, which you can read if you click here.
We congratulate Miss Jenkyns on not being downcast by the events of recent weeks.
Unfortunately, whilst Miss Jenkyns is keen to keep the ball rolling while the constituency is unrepresented, is seems that the officers at County Hall are less so in some cases.
In two cases where drivers and pedestrians are at risk because of grass which needs cutting and trees that need lopping, the officer dealing with the problem is on leave until 14th September, which apparently means that nothing will get done.
Just another fortnight for the grass to grow longer and the trees to continue obscure the view of road users.
Can't anyone use a morsel of commonsense and deal with this in the meantime?
The J-word springs to mind.

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