Extra Meeting Of Oakham Town Council Budget 19th November 2018 Video
A very frustrating meeting.
The Finance Working Group had failed to meet so we had no reports to explain proposed changes.
The Clerk had provided a draft budget she had prepared without any consultation with members.
Even more frustratingly this document had changed prior to the meeting. When I raised this at the
meeting Cllr Paul Buxton said I was being trivial. The Chairman and Mayor Adam Lowe was on best form as he rejected my request for copies of the document. To add insult to injury later in the meeting he can be heard saying to the Clerk it would be good if you provide the documents in future
During the meeting he showed no respect to other members as he publicly referred to them as Children in the presence of members of the public.
The council was told it could not reverse a previous years resolution to add £18,000 to earmarked
reserves. The law is very clear we can only have earmarked reserves for new projects such as building a new property. We can not have money just in case we need it, currently we hold £55,000
earmarked reserves and £90,000 general reserves.
When this was discussed during and after the meeting there was a lot of ridiculous talk that the money was required if some one bombed the park! I did wonder what we are paying insurance for.
Cllr Adam Lowe also told us about a meeting he had held in Costa with two former Mayors who
run Oakham Town Partnership. Partnership being the joke word in its name. He was not very complimentary about them and happily named them publicly. In this case I don't disagree with his
thoughts about the town partnership which has clearly became a very strange undemocratic group.
Cllr Lowe said he wanted Oakham Town Council to consider taking over the running of the Christmas late night shopping event and not charging stall holders. A good thing for Oakham.
Video To Follow
