A Gold plated pre-election clanger?

[jeffh]

It all boils down to, a medal for what exactly ? Just being there?
I recall no stunning contribution to civic life, no principled stands, no waves made, no boats rocked, just mundane acquiesance.
A medal? Seriously?

Plus an extra £7900 for the privilege

[jawsbbc]

If this 'medal purchase' is indeed true, then whoever thought of and authorised it should be forced to resign at such a blatant waste of Council tax payers money!   I sincerely hope that those HBC employees/ officers and/or councillors who have the evidence (and the ba**s), will let the Hartlepool public know just what this bunch of charlatans have wasted / stolen over the years! 

i this the first or has it been one of many ??

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

Ben Houchen is asking people via social media to vote Conservative in Hartlepool.

Has he ever been to a full council meeting ?

If he has, could he spot the Tory Councillors ?

[Inspector Knacker]

They'll be the ones with the leads on surely? Doing the obedience trials, jumping through hoops and getting patted on the head. Oops, saw the 'C' and thought you meant Crufts. Silly me.

[notenoughsaid]

   If my memory serves me right wasn't SAB seen wearing an unidentified medal at a Remembrance  Parade. Perhaps this is not the first one issued. !!!

   Just a thought.

[fred c]

   If my memory serves me right wasn't SAB seen wearing an unidentified medal at a Remembrance  Parade. Perhaps this is not the first one issued. !!!

   Just a thought.

You are almost correct NES.... he was observed wearing 2 Medals, no-one knows exactly what the significance was....

[Inspector Knacker]

   If my memory serves me right wasn't SAB seen wearing an unidentified medal at a Remembrance  Parade. Perhaps this is not the first one issued. !!!

   Just a thought.

You are almost correct NES.... he was observed wearing 2 Medals, no-one knows exactly what the significance was....

DFC and  bar (Devoted Frollower of Chipper) Chipper Club life member.?

OBE (Oreder of Burger Eaters)?

[kevplumb]

looks like our no1 fan is on the case
https://www.facebook.com/harry.blackwood.52

[Lord Elpus]

I would not be surprised if SAB had not looked into the chances of him been put forward for an OBE, I'm sure he could get enough people to write in singing his praises.  The trouble would come once the powers that be do a google search of the nimcompoop.

I suppose they are very used to self serviing ars*h**es trying to blag a proper gong.

[mk1]

I would not be surprised if SAB had not looked into the chances of him been put forward for an OBE.........

..... to honour Art-le-poo-el?

[DRiddle]

I'll update on here later on what HBC are saying is the situation with the gold medal. People can form their own views.

[jawsbbc]

I'll update on here later on what HBC are saying is the situation with the gold medal. People can form their own views.

cannot wait do not leave it to long david

[fred c]

Tom Cook was blaming a Councillor Officer for The Medal situation on Blackwoods FB page......But we all know Blaming a Council Officer is the Modus Operandi of The SCABAL....So much for the Corbynites wanting shot of the usual suspects, now they are kissing their ar**'s....

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

This sounds just like the carpet fiasco.   

About as believable as the tooth fairy.

[DRiddle]

So here's the 'story' from beginning to end so far.

Around two weeks ago various people's inboxes started pinging with information from sources in and around the civic centre about a gold medal. That's a fact, that definitely happened. There was talk about a gold medal which could/would/might be given to the outgoing Mayor next month. That information was circulating on or around the 16th March.

What is certain is there is documented proof of what most people perceived to be a purchase order with the words 'for Cllr Paul Beck for annual Council on 24th May' on it. On the same document it quotes a price of £1,975.

That information founds its way into the hands or minds of myself, ex-cllr Geoff Lilley, various other Councillors, the people at The Hartlepool Post and from what i hear, practically every single member of staff in the Kremlin. 

Things then start to develop on the 23rd March when i make veiled reference to an alleged purchase which might upset sections of the electorate. I don't mention specifically what the purchase supposedly is due to my awareness of Purdah guide lines. However, others who are aware of the leak opt to fill in the blanks.

Over the next few days there are many murmurings from within HBC, in particular from Labour councillors. My name is offered up as the source of the leak (not true) and i'm told complaints were made to the CEO. The new Labour members go into defensive mode on social media and the story then becomes somewhat hazy with claim and counter claim made about the alleged medal.

Ultimately, the £140,000 a year CEO seemingly in charge of the organisation which employs 4,000 people and receives upwards of £70 million a year in council tax and business rates, decides to clarify a situation raised in an 'insignificant' local online forum. 

It seems what has 'leaked' out of the civic is NOT in fact a purchase order for a gold medal for Paul Beck, but in fact a QUOTE for one from a local jeweler.

To quote the CEO directly;

Enquiries were made with a local jeweler regarding the cost of providing a gold medal.   These enquires were made to establish the costs to enable discussions to be had with the out going Ceremonial Mayor and Chair of Finance and Policy Committee.  However, these discussions had not taken place before this issue was raised on social media.

Following receipt of the cost estimate, I discussed this with the Chair of Finance and Policy Committee and the decision was made not to proceed with the gold medal option.

As an alternative it is now intended that the out going Ceremonial Mayor will be awarded an alternative medal which the Council currently holds and originally cost £530.

That quote above comes direct from an e-mail from the council CEO dated yesterday, 29th March (sorry Gill but i'm just sick of it all). Some 13 days after the original chatter in the civic about a gold medal for the outgoing Mayor, and seven days after my original post on this topic.

People are free to draw their own conclusions from this timeline of events.

Whatever your position or view on this, it obviously raises some questions.

One, why, if we had a £530 medal 'lying around in the civic', did we feel the need to commission a local jeweller for another? Two, how many other 'treasures' are to be found in HBC as well as a £530 gold medal? A Picasso perhaps? A few diamonds, some bars of gold bullion? Three, how the hell do you 'over order' gold medals? Because it this one was lying around, who was the medal now going to Councillor Beck originally for? Did a previous outgoing Mayor decline it? How much has been spent of 'Medals for Mayors' since Stuart Drummond left office? All in all this raises more questions than answers.

Do the voting public feel even a £530 medal is necessary 36 hours before they're due to start paying the 3rd highest council tax rates (in unitary authorities) in the country?

Do they believe this situation has played out in the way described by the CEO?

Do they believe the situation would have played out this way had the information NOT found its way out of the civic centre two weeks ago?

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, will HBC stand by this explanation if a document marked 'purchase order' were to turn up (showing the details of the £1,975 medal) and find it's way into the public domain?

And that last one, is perhaps the most interesting question of all.

Happy Easter.