For Info: Mayoral Referendum

[admin]

HARTLEPOOL COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE

Date Set for Referendum
A REFERENDUM will take place in Hartlepool on Thursday 15 November to determine how the council is run in the future.

It follows a meeting of the Full Council last night (2 August) when councillors voted unanimously in favour of a Referendum.

Hartlepool Council has operated the Elected Mayor and Cabinet model since May 2002 and voters will be asked in the Referendum whether they want to retain this system or see it replaced with a committee system. The ballot paper will ask:


How would you like Hartlepool Council to be run?

By a mayor who is elected by voters. This is how the council is run now

By one or more committees made up of elected councillors. This would be a change from how the council is run now


The Referendum will be determined by a straight majority but any change to the current system would not be implemented until May 2013.

The Referendum will be held on the same day as the election to appoint a Police and Crime Commissioner for the Cleveland area.

Press release PR17099.  3 August  2012.

Issued by Alastair Rae, Public Relations Manager, on 01429 523510.

Alastair Rae

Public Relations Manager

Hartlepool Borough Council



tel:01429 523510

alastair.rae@hartlepool.gov.uk

[steveL]

No reference to doing away with the elected Mayor but at the same time keeping the Scrutiny system that came with it. Empire building at its worst.

[The Great Dictator]

Scrutiny groups are only discussion groups and don't make decisions.

[steveL]

Scrutiny groups shouldn't be there at all if we do away with the elcted Mayor position.

[Stevef]

Scrutiny groups are only discussion groups and don't make decisions.

Shhh Marg will hear you!

[popgoestheweasal.]

An elected Mayor would be my choice If we have to have one.

[The Great Dictator]

You won't defeat Drummond, it has to go !

[Stevef]

You won't defeat Drummond, it has to go !

Throwing out the bath water with the baby ( yes I know what I said ) is a really daft idea. I'm no fan of Drummond but what is on offer will be a lot worse.

We will NOT be going back to the system we had before the elected mayor, so there is no point in allowing yourselves to think we are. That system is not on offer, mainly because the Labour members don't want that system. Take some time to look carefully at what is on offer.

The trouble is the mayoral system has never been tried in Hartlepool. This is because the current incumbent , despite being elected and occupying the position of a mayor is not and never will be a mayor.

Despite the obvious frustration concerning Drummond, the mayoral system is the one and only hope the people of Hartlepool have of ever getting a local government that puts their interests before their own.

Be really careful what you wish for. There are no easy solutions.

[fred c]

I have on many occasions voiced my disapproval of the way drummond has gone about the job of Mayor, his lack of decisive, skilled & knowledgeable leadership is the main reason we are facing a referendum in November.

If we had elected a Mayor that was a competent person who had an in depth knowledge of the financial & management skills required to run a fairly large company in the first place, we wouldn`t now be having to contemplate a choice between the frying pan & the fire.

The manipulation of the questions that will appear on the Mayoral Ballot paper is a clear indication of the way the town will be governed in future years, it is clear that the system proposed by the ruling group is more to do with their own interests, than the interests of the town as a whole.

If any proof were needed it can be provided by members of the public attending a full council meeting, there is no meaningful debate in the chamber, there is however glaring evidence of major decisions being decided by a small number of councillors, whose decisions are then rubber stamped by the rest of the ruling group with a "For or Against".

As a voters, we have had the chance to have an input into the betterment of Hartlepool, through ignorance, apathy & in some cases, sheer stupidity we have blown it...... we got what we deserved

[Julie noted]

I am confused.....who said 'easily done'? .....I don't want the usual labour suspects to continue to rule the roost (and lots of my friends and neighbours don't either!), but if we continue with a mayoral post, who's to say it has to be drummond?
It is patently obvious he is, and always was, out of his depth. It is an absolute scandal that someone of his calibre can hold sway over important decisions in the council. (or use his 'casting vote' to finalise a decision).

If we vote to continue with the elected mayor system, why does drummond stay with the role?
Surely it is time for voting for a new mayor?...someone without ties to the labour party, someone that has ties only for the good of the town.
Someone with finacial acumen, with business qualifications but most of all, with the balls to face up to the kremlin crowd and bring them down to size.
If anyone fills that criteria...they have my vote.

[The Great Dictator]

I'm afraid your vote won't swing it Julie, no educated self respecting business mogul would even consider such a sh*t job for £55k a year.

With all the abuse he would have to take it's just not worth it, the local football BNP clique would make sure the ugly one got back in.

But i have news, he never had power to start with, every decision had to be ratified by council anyway, so nothing will change when he's gone.

Give it back to the people who REALLY want it, they are accountable and much easier to remove and on a lower pay scale.

You won't even notice a difference when he goes back to Garlands. 

[no6bus]

I'm afraid your vote won't swing it Julie, no educated self respecting business mogul would even consider such a sh*t job for £55k a year.

With all the abuse he would have to take it's just not worth it, the local football BNP clique would make sure the ugly one got back in. do we have one ? are they any good at getting rid of people on forums who talk bollox at every oppurtunity, if so i may have to put my name down.

But i have news, he never had power to start with, every decision had to be ratified by council anyway, so nothing will change when he's gone.

Give it back to the people who REALLY want it, they are accountable and much easier to remove and on a lower pay scale.

You won't even notice a difference when he goes back to Garlands. 

why have they opened up again?  why let the facts get in the way of your usual claptrap.

[The Great Dictator]

Shut up greaseball.

[mk1]

Shut up greaseball.

Hey don't kick a man when he is down.
His team got creamed over the weekend!

A totally humiliating 5-0 stuffing!
The Bunker is in mourning.

[The Great Dictator]

They'll get another pasting when Swindon come up on saturday.