Are you truly independent and do you really want to help Salford Council in "promoting high standards of conduct by elected and co-opted members"? This could be the ideal part time job for you!
The Council is looking for two `Independent Persons' to deal with complaints against the conduct of councillors and Assistant Mayors and the City Mayor himself.
You see, Salford Council really cares about "promoting high standards of conduct" by its representatives – which is why, when you ask for an Assistant Mayor to be investigated by the Standards Committee…like, er, Gena Merrett, for instance, you hear nothing back for months and it ends up in the bin.
As well as promoting `high standards' of `elected members', your role as an `Independent Person' will involve being "consulted by the council's monitoring officer and/or the standards committee before a decision is made following the investigation of a complaint". Other details of the role include…
• `The independent person may also be consulted before a decision is taken as to whether to investigate a complaint or whether the complaint should be resolved by an alternative means'
• `To be available for consultation by an elected or co-opted member who is the subject of a standards complaint'
• `To participate in developing skills, knowledge and experience regarding the council's ethical framework, codes of conduct and arrangements for dealing with complaints about member conduct'…
The Salford Star would like to help with some more information for you…THEY DON'T HAVE A REAL `ETHICAL FRAMEWORK ETC FOR DEALING WITH COMPLAINTS ABOUT COUNCILLORS' CONDUCT!!!'
They put your complaint in the bin – and then, when you complain about the complaint not being dealt with, they don't acknowledge that either – and so you have to complain about the complaint about the original complaint not being dealt with.
And then you have two complaints – one against the Assistant Mayor, er, Gena Merrett, for instance, which was your original standards complaint. And then one against the senior Standards Officer, er, Martin Vickers, for instance, as he hasn't bothered to do anything about your original standards complaint…
...All of which proves how the whole process is so `ethical' and `promotes high standards'.
However if you wish to be one of those Independent Persons in the middle of this very fair and `ethical' process, feel free to apply. You won't be over busy - Salford Council's Standards Committee hasn't actually met since March 2012!
To be `independent' you must not…
• be a member, co-opted member or officer of the council
• have within the past five years been a member, co-opted member or officer of the council
• be a relative or close friend of a person within the bullet points above - for the purposes of this, "relative" means spouse or civil partner
• living with the other person as husband and wife or as if they were civil partners
• grandparents of the other person
• a lineal descendant of a grandparent of the other person
• a parent, sibling or child of the person within the above points
• a spouse or civil partner of a person within the above points
• living with a person within the above points as husband and wife or as if they were civil partners.
But you should have:
• an interest in local government and local community issues
• the ability to be objective, open-minded and impartial
• good analytical, communication and interpersonal skills
• a high level of integrity inspiring public confidence
• an understanding of confidentiality requirements
• the ability to work as part of a team
• political awareness without political affiliations
You will get £384 for your troubles.
The closing date is today, 5th July, so hurry!!! Full details – click here
You need to contact Ben Dolan, Monitoring Officer, Salford City Council – ben.dolan@salford.gov.uk
Turnpike House
631 Eccles New Road
Salford
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