The Real Truth about the Financial Misspending is starting to Emerge…
The meeting approved grants of £500 to both the Kinsley craft workshop and Hemsworth Miners Welfare Cricket Club.
It was at long last confirmed, that the war memorial at Kinsley is the responsibility of Hemsworth Town Council. Councillors agreed to undertake the necessary work requested using their own staff and to work with WDH with regards to improving the surrounding area.
It beggars belief, that it has taken nearly four years for Independent Hemsworth Town Council to finally accept their responsibilities.
Ferret wonders what they chose to spend our money on instead?
The town clerk – Alan Draper, reported that the council is overspent by 4% in the last quarter.
This comes as no surprise to Ferret – Just what would be the true overspend if Independent Hemsworth Town Council had completed all of the remedial work which is still outstanding?
Accounts Transparency – The statement from Councillor Moran, previously reported by Ferret was read out. This is long overdue but all we can do is hope is, that this time it is actioned correctly.
However, Ferret is once again dismayed, that Alan Draper has been allowed to take part, instead of being sidelined or suspended, from all parts of any investigation in which he is clearly implicated.
Repairs are required to the Bank street roof, again the cost of this work is unbudgeted and will again hide the real costs of this cabal council.
Noticeboards: At long last we are getting a little bit nearer with the notice boards being brought into operation. The flower bed belonging to Home Bargains in Hemsworth and the grounds of the Fitzwilliam centre are the preferred locations. Permissions to be obtained as required.
PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
A lady thanked the chair for the statement she had read out concerning transparency and asked if the information she had previously sent could now be sent on to the auditor, to be now used?
A question was asked about the toilets due to be discussed in exclusion and if permanent could they please ensure they get planning permission and all the other things proposed, where are the funds coming from as unbudgeted for?
Ferret wonders why they don’t let Kenyon sort it like he did with the free store?
Oh that’s why they won’t, the free store has now cost us at least £30,000 – with more still to be spent, they must be learning that all his qualifications are fake and he is nothing but a bankrupt liar.
Councillor Hird stated that they will have to discuss it and Councillor Moran stated that the tenders are commercially sensitive. If works are not budgeted for, they may have to come from next years and any work prioritised.
The lady asked what the state of the reserves were:
Alan Draper stated they are now at £405k but the Council has £100k monthly outgoings, which means that “pushes us to the wire”, of the recommended amount of reserves the Council should have.
How reassuring is that? It confirms that if all the necessary routine and remedial work had been done as needed then this council would have been bankrupt.
A gentleman asked why is so much remedial work necessary after four years?
Why has there been no maintenance over last four years and it should have been done as a matter of course?
Donna Moran couldn’t say why such as the Paths had not been done.
The condition of the small beach was also raised as it needed about £5000 spending on it.
Jean Eccles knew the answer, it was straight from the Kenyon book of knowledge she had spent a minute or two looking at the pictures, from front cover to back cover with nothing in between.
Wait for it… “It was the last lots fault” they had inherited it four years ago!
Really Jean it’s taken you a long time to realise it, so for the last four years you have ignored the state of the beach?
Or is it the money that was spent on your car park or on your “free” rubbish collection was diverted.
That money, that could have been used for routine maintenance, on the things that should be checked every 3 months or annually or sooner as required.
Well to be fair to the lady of the veils, 4 years to come up with an obviously ridiculous excuse is not too bad for her, at least she said it without being abusive, only offensive to the last lot and peoples intelligence.
The Playworld inspection said the work must be done before opening this year; so begs the question, as to why the inspection hadn’t been done before the budget was set?
Next year’s inspection needs to be done before the budget is sorted.
Alan Draper was asked why it had not been done his response was – “Just the way it has dropped”.
This is an absolutely ridiculous excuse once again, how can budgets be set without knowing the work required?
Whose responsibility is it to prepare the budget?
The Town Clerk’s Alan Draper
Playworld alone will cost £31k to fix and open.
Once again, it’s a convenient way of avoiding disclosing the real cost of this disastrous financial regime.
A lady commentated that more people are more aware with what has been spent over four years, wastage etc and asked the Council to put monthly accounts on the notice boards so all the community can see the thousands of pounds which are being spent and what on.
A gentleman asked why they were not charging for car parking now.
Alan Draper stated it is on and agreed.
Cllr Middleton also replied that it was going back to what it was– It’s going back to what it was, some weekends and holidays.
However this is not correct, Ferret has been sniffing around and parking charges were collected whenever the demand was there, which was any time that the sun or an event / holiday brought people into the Waterpark.
There were also controls on the cash handling.
Tickets could be purchased from the beach shop and Lakeside Café, through the tills.
They could also be purchased from an attendant.
All tickets were numbered.
The numbers of sold tickets were checked to see they matched the income received.
All tickets had to be displayed in the cars windscreens
The same applied to the Pedalos and with random inspections taking place by senior staff to ensure all users had valid tickets.
Ferret hopes stringent checks will be put into place by Independent Hemsworth Town Council to ensure certain people can’t line their own pockets…
Here is the full recording of the meeting taken from the HTC ‘zoom’:
The need to take vital money from the reserves speaks volumes,the need to have to spend thousands on repairs built up over the last disastrous 4 years speaks volumes,the 23/24 budget is already in jeopardy oh what a marvellous tenure the Independent councillors have served on our already poor community.
At least the community will hopefully get to see the HTC monthly spends on the accounts displayed for everyone on our new to be erected NOTICEBOARDS.
Please can you post on FB Thankyou.
I hope cllrs Hird and Moran get the support of enough of the other councillors in the next meeting to start the investigations into this shower. Any of them that do not vote or stay away will be complicit. There has been so much wrong and so much covered up that should have been dealt with by the councillors from a long time ago until even just recently. They are no longer making this council look bad as the truth is coming out, only themselves
If it wasn’t for Cathy,Julie,Linda and others, (ferret) speaking up at meetings and posting on social media the the vast majority of parishioners wouldn’t have a clue what was happening at HTC we are all indebted to you all.
We are 4% over budget, does anyone know what the equates to in money?.
Looking at the financial Regulations RFO point 1.12 bullet point 2 is interesting , please correct me but did town clerk say he didn’t know why the accounts had been tampered with .or words to that effect?
Point 2 inclusive, is also worth reading. Actually how many people have access to be able to add/remove invoices from the accounts .This needs investigating.
As for councillor Eccles saying blame the last lot, that was nearly four years ago are we to blame the last lot for all the squandering of all the monies that they inherited? Perhaps you would like to make a voluntary contribution to bolster HTC coffers.
Agree Vickie but let’s not forget some of the councillors only turn up when votes are needed,they only turn up when their master and puppeteer needs their Yes votes,the remaining councillors need to show this community more than ever that they too want answers and do want the truth.They must support councillor Donna Moran and councillor Maxine Hird and vote for a full investigation and vote for a full forensic audit and they must remember with elections approaching the parishioners will be watching to see who the good councillors are and who is not and the parishioners don’t need CCTV to do it.