Let's share the jobs

 a bit more fairly

As Boston Borough Council resumes business this evening, it gets on with the job of making appointments.

As well as appointing the Leader, councillors will also be selecting members of committees, chairmen and vice-chairmen and making appointments to outside organisations.
This latter group comprises more than forty groups with which Boston Borough Council has a relationship with in one way or another – ranging from organisations such as the local Age Concern, to tourism organisations, drainage boards, health groups and the tiny and obscure local charities.
Surprisingly, the number of people wanting to do jobs like this is over subscribed rather than the reverse.
Whilst enthusiam is good, it also shows a worrying tendency for ruling council groups to want to hog the lot.
Of the total of 69 nominations – give or take, as the precise figure is unclear - 53 nominees are Conservative councillors, six are Independent, five are from the BBI, one from Labour, and none at all from the English Democrats.
If all this sounds familiar, one only has to cast one’s mind back four years – when the BBI pulled off precisely the same stunt to howls of protest from members of the various opposition parties.
The problem now is who to appoint.
Representing the council at an outside organisation would better be considered in the context of horses for courses rather than a desire to seek political dominance at all levels.
Given the composition of the council, it is clearly inequitable for so many Conservatives to be on the list.
After all, there are only 19 of them in total – constituting just over 60% –  so the level of nominations is clearly unfair and disproportionate.
Between now and tonight, we think that it would be a good idea for some of the nominated Tories to consider whether they really want some of these jobs, and how the council may in fact be better represented if a wider political spectrum was presented to outsiders.
Quite a number of BBI members have more experience than many of the newly elected Conservatives, and the same is true of members of the Independent and some of Labour ranks.
And why, we wonder, are the English Democrats getting the cold shoulder?
Don’t bother to answer that.
We had hoped that by now, the powers that be might have realised that at the local political level, people are councillors first (or should be) and party members second.
Whilst we wouldn’t impugn the motives of many nominees, newly-elected councils often see a stampede for jobs like these without the people who want them realising what is involved in terms of time, work and knowledge.
The end result is that people fall by the wayside, fail to turn up at meetings, and deprive the council of a say in an organisation which often needs it.
We hear of one such example with former Councillor Peter Jordan, who failed to attend the twice yearly meetings of the Rural Commission for three years until he was replaced by Councillor Richard Austin (whose attendance record is unknown.)
Let’s not forget that first and foremost, our councillors serve the people, not themselves, and that there is still time to try to balance out these appointments more fairly – and possibly more appropriately.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.