Mayor Robinson opened Monday’s Annual Town meeting with a two minute silence for long standing Ventnor councillor Rob Mew.
Following a report from the Ventnor Town Council (VTC) on what they have planned for the forthcoming year (more to come on that later), reports from County Councillors and updates from local groups on the previous year’s activities, the meeting opened to public questions. We endeavoured to take down as much of the discussion as possible.
Why no reflection on past year?
The questions were kicked off with former town and county councillor, Jonathan Fitzgerald Bond, stating that he’d attended many Annual Town meetings over the years and had always heard a report from the Town Council on what they’d achieved in the previous year. He asked why there had been no reflection on what had been achieved by the VTC, such as the position with benches, paths etc.
Mayor Robinson replied that the VTC had just come through an appallingly turbulent year, which was mostly filled with firefighting. She hoped that the plans set out for the forthcoming year would be received positively.
Where are meetings advertised?
A member of the public asked where the town clerk had advertised notice of the meeting, continuing that she had not seen a notice of it at the Winter Gardens, which she thought would be the obvious place.
David Bartlett (the town clerk) replied that it had been placed in the usual position on the town notice board in the Central Car Park, but he could also add a notice outside the Winter Gardens in future.
Ventnor resident Christine Benson requested that a notice of the meeting also be placed in the (South Wight) “Chronicle which we all love” to which another member of the public replied that it had been, but was advertised at the wrong time.
South Wight Beacon coverage in Ventnor
There was then some discussion about the VTC newsletter being circulated in the SW Beacon, as a member of the public stated that she’d not received a copy of the SW Beacon for many years.
All those who gave a show of hands (1-15) as not receiving the SW Beacon were asked to provide their road or street names to the town clerk at the end of the meeting so the matter could be raised with SW Beacon distribution.
Mayor Robinson pointed out “We’re paying good money to distribute the newsletter with them and want to make sure it’s going where it should.”
Why a drop in the grant allocation?
Ventnor resident, Rob Chuter stated that he was unhappy that the grant allocation had been dropped in this year’s budget from the usual £5,000 to £1,000.
He continued that a lot of small community groups rely upon help from the VTC and felt that the change to the allocation was a poor reflection on the VTC.
Mayor Robinson, who is also chair of the grants committee, stated that it is VTC policy to only accept grant applications from those groups or organisations who are either registered charities or can show their financial books.
She went on to day that over the past couple of years, applicants had not met that criteria and therefore the grant budget has carried a surplus. She continued that the VTC had a responsibility to look after the public funds and could not hand out money without ensuring that the money was being well utilised.
Mr Chuter felt it was a poor excuse and another member of the public, Bernard Cawley, stated that this had not been the criteria in the past.
Mayor Robinson reiterated that the VTC had a responsibility to spend the public funds wisely.
Why no financial report on agenda?
Next up, Val Taylor told the VTC that it was normal council practice for a financial report to be provided at the Annual Town Meeting, but saw that no report had been included on the agenda and asked why best practice has not been followed.
Cllr Bonney replied that Ms Taylor had previously been asked for her co-operation by contacting the clerk privately to point any TC irregularities, rather than using public question time.
She told him that it was not her job to get in touch with the clerk to say what was wrong with the agenda.
Town clerk, David Bartlett, replied that due to the resignation of the former Responsible Finance Officer (RFO), the accounts had only been presented to the council the previous Monday, not giving them enough time to agree to adopt them.
He went on to say that it was announced at last week’s meeting, that the finances would presented at the next VTC meeting in June.
Why no notices outside for meeting
Another member of the public asked why there were no notices outside the meeting hall indicating that the meeting was taking place in there.
She thought the meeting was due to start at 7pm, turned up a little before 7pm thinking she was early and sat in the bar. She was then informed by a member of staff that the meeting was taking place in the hall.
Mayor Robinson apologised and said that in future a notice would be placed in an obvious position giving directions to where the meeting was being held. She also confirmed that the meeting time had been brought forward to accommodate rehearsals for the Ventnor Theatre Group, whose production starts tomorrow night.
Time alteration not legal
Val Taylor returned to the subject of the agenda, claiming that the alterations to the time of the meeting were not carried out within the legal time frame. She stated that the meeting notice on the town notice board had said 7pm.
Aggressive response
St Lawrence resident, Tony Ridley told the VTC that he felt that Cllr Bonney’s reaction to Val Taylor’s comments about the financial report was unnecessarily aggressive.
He was supportive of the VTC going forward but advised Cllr Bonney to try to conduct himself better. Another member of the public called out that he should apologise to Ms Taylor.
Query over General Manager role
Former Ventnor councillor Graham Perks was the next to raise a question. He stated that a figure of £35,000 had been put into the annual precept for the role of General Manager. He asked when it would be advertised and when it was would it be going in the County Press “which 98% of the Island population read”.
Cllr Welsford confirmed that the position of Entertainments Manager, on a rolling six month contract, was being advertised in (among other places) the The Stage (as suggested by Mr Perks when he sat on the Employment Committee), the County Press and VentnorBlog and that it was for a pro-rata salary of around £29,500 not £35,000.
Why only six months?
St Lawrence resident, Deborah Honeybourne asked why the role was only for six months, questioning who would take a job for six months as the season had already started.
Mayor Robinson clarified that the advertised role was for an Entertainments Manager, not a General Manager and that the VTC had agreed to provide this role in the short term to ensure the programming at the Winter Gardens could be actioned as quickly as possible.
Cllr Stubbings stated that they had already received interest from a great many applicants for the position and hoped to receive more.
“Please be patient with us”
Cllr Stubbings went on to say that he found it personally very difficult to take the level of criticism that was being directed at the VTC and asked for the public to be more patient with them.
He stated that it was not an easy job, when there was a large block of people in the town being antagonistic towards the VTC. He asked for the public to give them the space to get on with their plans and come back to them in 6-12 months time.
Councillors need social skills training
St Lawrence resident Ross Honeybourne told the VTC that he thought they should go on a social skills training course.
Mayor Robinson replied “When the public does, we will.” This was met with huge indignation by most of the audience.
Another member of the public added that everyone in the hall had a love for the town, but unless the town and the VTC could start to trust each other, rudeness would just return.
Cllr Stubbings pointed out that there were six seats available on the VTC and invited people to come forward and get involved. The lady reply of “you don’t deserve me” was met with rapturous applause from some of the audience.
Confusion over councillor coverage and elections
One member of the public was confused as to who their ward councillor was, since Mr Perks had resigned.
Mayor Robinson confirmed that each ward had at least one councillor still representing the constituents and worked around the table, pointing out which councillor represented which ward.
David Bartlett confirmed that there was an election schedule to fill the vacancy left by Joan Garlick (nominations need to be submitted by tomorrow – 27th May). He pointed out that the VTC were not in a position to call an election themselves, but that it would happen in response to at least 10 people requesting it via County Hall.
Polling cards
Rob Chuter asked the VTC for an assurance that polling cards would be issued at the next local election.
Mayor Robinson replied that the decision would be made by the town council at a formal meeting.
Vote of thanks for Buster Bartlett
Val Taylor asked for a vote of thanks for Buster Bartlett for his years of service.
She went on to say that he’d worked for many years for the good of the town and the townspeople appreciated his efforts.
This was met with a huge round of applause from the audience.
Why no polling cards in St Lawrence election?
Ross Honeybourne asked why polling cards hadn’t been issued for the St Lawrence election.
He told the meeting that when Cllr Bonney had called on his house during canvassing, he pointed out that he hadn’t received a polling card and Cllr Bonney had said he would raise the matter.
He went on to say that after still not receiving his polling card before the election, he and his wife did not vote.
Apologies for lack of polling cards
Cllr Welsford, who was Mayor at the time of the election, once again apologised for the lack of polling cards.
He stated that the decision to not have polling cards had been made upon advice given to him by the previous town clerk.
He discovered afterwards that the decision should have been made by the entire VTC rather than him alone, but by this time it was too late. He apologised several times for not being in position to rectify the situation.
Cllr Bonney also added that he had also been very surprised by the lack of polling cards but felt assured that between himself and Mrs Cawley (the other candidate), that they’d reached virtually every household in St Lawrence either by calling in person or delivering leaflets (which stated where and when the polling would be held).
End of coverage
We had to leave the meeting at this point (7.20pm), so are unable to provide any further report of what was discussed, but understand that the meeting came to a close fairly soon afterwards.
The next Ventnor Town Council meeting takes place on Monday 14th June at the Winter Gardens.
The agenda is usually added to the listing on the Winter Gardens Web pages a few days before the meeting.
