The election of a new Leader doesn’t seem to have brought much realism to the York Council Labour Group.
True new Leader Williams is sacking 2 members of the Cabinet – which will operate with 6 members in future – in a gesture towards financial prudence. At the same time he is trying to “bounce” residents and opposition Councillors into accepting a £9.2 million scheme aimed at providing new offices, a riverside walkway and a restaurant on a site adjacent to the Guildhall site.
Williams slipped out the announcement to the local newspaper 24 hours before the agenda documents for a hastily convened special Cabinet meeting (scheduled to take place on 16th December) are due to be published.
York Guildhall
It means that residents can’t even view the business case for the project at the moment.
…and there will be minimal time for consultation before the Cabinet signs off £500,000 in expenditure on design work for what it describes as a “digital media centre”.
We’ll reserve comment on the project until the full business case has been published, but if it is as lacking in detail as similar proposals – to invest £8 million in replacing the Waterworld swimming pool and £10 million on a bridge into the York central site – then we will know that the new Council is as financially imprudent, as the Alexander regime was reckless.
York Taxpayers – and their children – could be paying over £2 million a year just servicing the debts on these “vanity” projects.
£30,000 to do a job part time?
Meanwhile the new Labour Leader is likely to be asked to make clear his intentions about how much time he could be expected to spend on York Council work if he were to become the its Leader on Thursday.
A full time £30,000 a year salary has been attached to the post since local government reorganisation in 1997.
The expectation is that the Council Leader will be putting in around 50 hours of work each week,
Some of the holders of the post have worked longer hours. ……but Cllr Williams has, so far, declined to confirm that he will be giving up his (day) job with Yorkshire Water.
Failure to do so would be to short change York Council taxpayers (or Yorkshire Water customers).
So he needs to make his intentions clear before Councillors are ask to endorse his nomination.