BID bosses dodge

the column - again

Tuesday night’s special meeting of Boston Business Improvement District was another disappointing affair, with half of the people tasked with running the BID bothering to turn up.
And those that made the effort came armed to the teeth with legal advisers.
Bearing in mind that these people are technically servants of the wider membership, it seems a strange way to go about winning over the people who think you are doing a bad job - treating them with contempt, and then - just in case they don’t get it, adding a little more contempt just in case.
Our fly on the wall at the meeting told us ...

“Another fiery meeting. Matters were not helped when the five members of the board that could be bothered to attend wheeled in not one, but two, solicitors from Wilkin & Chapman from Lincoln.

“Chairman Steve (editor's note - Steve Goulder, a director of Oldrids, - appointed chairman by the outgoing postholder at the July AGM debacle - and pictured right in the office production of 'Night of the Living dead') opened the meeting like the old headmaster declaring how disappointed he was that the meeting had been called at such expense to BID.
“He would not accept the suggestion that he was not the elected chairman, then he turned to his solicitors to argue the point, but they still did not answer the fact the the minutes from the AGM stated he was appointed.
“A statement was read out from Simon Beardsley (who did not grace the meeting with his presence) which basically claimed a majority of businesses were still in favour of the BID.
Niall Armstrong (the BID manager) then claimed they had 100 signatures of businesses that wanted the BID to continue.
“Various people then asked for a ballot of all members to prove the majority they claimed. Councillor Jim Blaylock spoke very well on behalf of the Butterfly Hospice, but the board were not budging.
"Steve Goulder almost made the mistake of agreeing to the ballot until one of the solicitors sprang to his side to stop him - hence the pantomime BOOs.
“After a number of further angry responses it became apparent that the board would not agree to a ballot as they were frightened that they would lose it. The audience then decided to leave.
“Chairman Steve then closed the meeting after he stated that he would not entertain another request for another general meeting.”
Editor’s notes:
We understand that around seventy people were at the meeting.
After the July meeting of Boston BID ended in chaos with calls for it to be wound up, Simon Beardsley, from Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, was appointed to investigate the feeling about winding up the company and promised an answer within three months.
His non appearance at Tuesday’s meeting tells us all we need to know about his sense of service to the membership, as does his lack of an answer.
Niall Armstrong’s claim to have 100 supporters of the BID cuts no ice, when you know that it has 500 members - scarcely a majority.
These people are running scared, and must grow up and accept their responsibilities, rather than trying to maintain the status quo for its own sake.


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