The £3,000 blowout

Mr Mustard has been working very hard for 6 months on site but now he is back and has the time to do things like have an idle look through the previous freedom of information responses of Barnet Council. He came across this response:

Mr Mustard likes a good feed much like many people. The difference is that he does it at his own expense. He has spent 6 months on site so at the end he took the whole team out for a restaurant meal and paid the bill, he did not charge his client.

He thought almost £3k for a buffet was a bit excessive. Every single councillor could be treated at The Haven, on a Tuesday, and we would still have £1,500 in change (63 * £22 = £1,386).

The Greyhound in Greyhound Hill could probably provide a lovely buffet for £1,000 if a council officer were to ask them. Just think about it, £1,000 buys an awful lot of vol-au-vents, quiche, chicken drumsticks, sausage rolls, pizza slices etc. A thousand pounds at a time when the minimum wage is £7.83 an hour and catering workers are generally lowly paid and food in supermarkets is cheap.

Anyway, Mr Mustard tweeted that this was a saving worth having

 

At the least someone should look at what is being ordered and who provides it and see if there is scope for a saving. These are meant to be the days of austerity.

Slightly to Mr Mustard's surprise the local branch of the Conservative party defended the ridiculous spend:

When you are spending someone else's money it is easy to lose touch with reality. Mr Mustard though he would fact check this. Now the bloggers always used to pop around to The Greyhound for their refreshment after committee meetings and would find opposition councillors in there. No-one was on an expense account but were generous with buying each other drinks if their pocket so allowed. If meetings ran on until 10pm at night Mr Mustard was truly in need of a pint of Youngs after listening to dry council business for 3 hours. Mr Mustard thought that the meeting in question must have been extended beyond 10pm or even gone right up to 10.30pm

So Mr Mustard checked the time at which the May 18 meeting of full council ended. The answer, dear reader, was 8.27pm with the meeting having started at 7pm

from the council's own minutes

So a meeting which lasted 87 minutes is, in the eyes of the unknown tweeter of the BarnetTories twitter account, an account which he/she shouldn't be allowed to have any unsupervised input to, a 'particularly long meeting'

 Now what does 'particularly' mean? This

& 'long'?

Oh dearie dearie me, Mr Mustard finds that both definitions leave the tweet of the BarnetTories looking like a scrap of self serving nonsense, a smokescreen, an attempt to polish a turd (sorry about the phrase when eating is being considered).

So Mr Mustard thought he would go back to see if this 2018 investiture of the bling of mayoral office, as worn & tainted by a former mayor being found guilty of assault by beating (you would surely want a brand new chain of office after that?) took longer than in previous years? Here is the answer:

So whilst this meeting did take 7 minutes longer than the average for the last 7 years, it really in all honesty cannot be called a long meeting, as they take 3 or 3.5 hours, and it definitely can't be called particularly long as 2 meetings in the last 7 years took longer.

What really begs the question is why catering is even called for at all, for meetings that take an average of 1 hour and 20 minutes, when historic meeting lengths are recorded & available. Any self respecting Mayor would invite everyone round the pub and put some money behind the bar, or invite them round to his place, or the mayoral parlour, and get a couple of barrels and some wine in and crisps & peanuts and have a jolly old time without soaking the public purse for almost £3,000.

The mayoral knees up should be scrapped. He has a year of municipal functions ahead of him and his waistband will thank Mr Mustard for it at the end of the year.

In a time of austerity the Mayor also needs to tighten his belt.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

p.s. the identity of the writer of the tweet by @BarnetTories is unknown, Mr Mustard checked that it wasn't one of his own High Barnet councillors, David Longstaff, & it wasn't. Probably best that the writer remains anonymous to spare their blushes. The identity of Mr Mustard is public knowledge given his past appearances in the media.

Task and Finish (off the traders) Group

Look, pedestrians, probably spending money in local shops

Last night Mr Mustard attended, along with other local business people and concerned residents, an open meeting of the Task & Finish Group about the possibility of installing cash parking meters once again.

Very little notice was given of the meetings and local bloggers, activists and residents associations, as well as the local paper all spread the word.

There were five people who had asked to speak (Mr Mustard had misunderstood, he put his evidence in and rather thought councillors would decide who they wanted to hear from but no, you self selected) and they all spoke eloquently of the devastation to their businesses (Helen Michael of Cafe Buzz and Paul Shea of Tally Ho Discount (very good for fruit and veg), both of which businesses mostly get paid in cash so their customers evidently have it to hand) and of changes to their shopping patterns (residents Barbara & Bob Jacobson) which led them to go places where parking is easier to pay for or free. There was a fair bit of heckling when Gail Laser, who represents the traders of High Barnet was refused permission as she hadn't put in her request in time and Cllr Gordon managed to get himself into a bit of a knot by saying he had only heard of traders from North Finchley and then refuse for a spare 5 minutes of time to be given to Gail who some councillors, and most of the audience, wanted to hear from.

Dan of the Barnet Bugle was doing sterling service as per usual, see his footage here, Mr Mustard showed his appreciation afterwards by buying him a pint of shandy in the Greyhound and shocked the staff by telling them that he had been under-charged. They totalled up his round again and accepted another £3.60 from him. You can't slip an obvious error by Mr Mustard.

When it came to the question of the whole galaxy of written submission, which councillors had probably all read in advance, Mr Mustard rather expected some open discussion of them. That was not to be. Instead Cllr Dean Cohen was allowed to the table to tell us how marvellous things were in High Barnet and Mill Hill and so on, based upon just one written submission, the one that partly favoured not having cash but in which it was pointed out that most of the provision in High Barnet is private car parking and takes cash. You couldn't make it up.

Anyone, then thank goodness Cllr Gordon said something which probably had the "Leader" Richard Cornelius groaning (Mr Mustard was in the front row and hadn't seen Richard come in from some other meeting) inwardly (Mr Mustard did invite Richard for a pint in the Greyhound but he had the missus with him, the Leaderene as she is apparently known so Mr Mustard offered to buy her a drink as well. Fighting back is very civilised in High Barnet but neither of them showed up). Anyway what Cllr Gordon asked aloud was

Is this (return of cash meters) economically viable?

How would it affect the budget?

What cuts would have to be made elsewhere?

If ever you wanted proof that Barnet Council is involved in illegal revenue raising from parking then that was it.

As an aside this morning a PATAS adjudicator asked Mr Mustard why he helped people with their appeals. He told her there were 9 reasons of which one was that the council were using parking tickets as revenue raisers (they all do that in London she said, whilst earning £50 an hour as part of the process!) and another that donations get made for charity. She described Mr Mustard's behaviour as strange which it may be but it also effective (although he was on a very rare review of an Appeal, which was granted, so the PCN was back in play for a second Appeal but his client blatantly parked where another person wouldn't have done and has probably done himself in despite the best efforts of Mr Mustard on the technical side).

There was one written submission which was sent to councillors but not to governance so it didn't get published. It is rather good so here it is in full:

To: 'cllr.b.gordon@barnet.gov.uk'; 'cllr.r.houston@barnet.gov.uk'; 'cllr.h.rayner@barnet.gov.uk'; 'cllr.j.scannell@barnet.gov.uk'; 'cllr.a.schneiderman@barnet.gov.uk'
Subject: Parking Policy (Cash Meters) Task and Finish Group


Dear Councillors

We are writing to you to implore you to bring back cash parking meters to our car parks and high streets.

Since November 2011 when the meters were disabled trade has been drastically down.

Time and time again first time customers who have made a dedicated trip to our specialist sweet and sugarcraft shop have been so frustrated that they cannot pay for parking and let us know that they will not be returning. You cannot expect people from other boroughs to register for pay by phone or risk searching for a scratch card vendor. They simply will not do it and to pretend that we’ve all got to move with the times is nonsense and ignores the facts: cashless parking is killing the high streets. This is not a situation where one solution is the fix and pay by phone and card payment methods are what is required in addition to cash payments.

In light of our current national economic circumstances the council should be doing all it can to help bring trade to our high streets rather than put up barriers. With the unfair competition from the expansion of out of town shopping centres and the redevelopment of Brent Cross (which have plentiful free parking) we need to make sure that the vitality of our local communities is maintained. The restoration of cash parking would be a start, periods of free parking such as free after three would then be a small step in the right direction.

Please bring back cash parking meters!

Yours sincerely,

Alice and Michael Kentish

Hopscotch

88 High Street, Barnet, Herts, EN5 5SN

There is another meeting on Thursday at 7pm at which the decision will be taken as to whether to recommend the return of cash meters or not. Please do go as Mr Mustard can't make that one.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Mr Mustard's social and PCN club

The Greyhound, Hendon.

Normally on the second Monday of the month is when Mr Mustard has a little gathering with friends, where he downs a cheeky half of bitter and shares a packet of crisps and conversation. He also takes a preliminary look at any parking tickets that anyone might have managed to pick up. Recently those gatherings have been in the Bohemia at Tally Ho but getting in is a problem now that the pub has been boarded up.

There is a second problem that Mr Mustard's diary is rather full. The council have scheduled some meetings for Monday including the General Functions Committee the rather blandly named committee that deals, amongst other things, with staffing matters. The GFC meeting is at 6pm. Mr Mustard has asked the council by twitter why this meeting isn't at the customary 7pm and hasn't had a reply which won't be "for the convenience of residents". On a previous occasion for a supposed Overview and Scrutiny committee it was arranged early so that the chair could go off to a dinner. He went to his dinner but had to come back on another day for another meeting and deal with Mr mustard's score of questions and make many alterations to the constitution which, but for polite revolt by residents, would have been nodded through unchanged.

You can look at the agenda here. Now a meeting to discuss such a serious topic as moving 256 staff from the employ of the council to a joint venture company with Capita should include a long & comprehensive debate and serious scrutiny but Mr Mustard doubts that it will. 

The second item will be about what conflicts of interest that council nominated Directors of the joint venture company have. This is a subject in which Mrs Angry (of Broken Barnet fame) has previously taken a great interest as unless you have your tanks on their lawn the council seem to have been wilfully blind to conflicts in the past when it comes to employees leaving the council and joining partners who have been or are about to be awarded humongous contracts. So, Mr Mustard can't see this item taking very long either.

If Mr Mustard is right we'll all be in The Greyhound, which is in walking distance of the Town Hall, from 7pm and if he's wrong, we won't! If you follow @_MrMustard on twitter or @BrokenBarnet and probably @barnetbugle who tends to film the meetings, you will get some live updates on the progress of the meeting and be able to gauge what time to leave home in order to join us in the pub.

A different idea is to see "democracy" in action and come to the Town Hall at 6pm and look on the electronic display screen as to which committee room the meeting is in (only choices are 1,2 & 3 - occasionally in the council chamber itself) and join us there. 

Mr Mustard will try to wear one of his avatar plastered t-shirts so you can pick him out.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard


Update Friday evening; Mr Mustard may have to update his view of how long the meeting will last although there is history of reports from Unison being treated as invisible. Mr Mustard wonders how a dog can have two masters. he would have thought that an employee cannot have two employers without having two employment contracts? One for the lawyers, independent ones who have nothing to do with One Barnet.

Letter to GFC from Unison 5 September 13 by MisterMustard

Inadequate review of Residents Forums (social club postponed)

Review of Forums at 5 July 2013 by MisterMustard

Normally it being the second Tuesday Mr Mustard would host a little social gathering in the Bohemia but he has a diary clash, as he does nearly every night, and so he has to make choices. Instead of drinking beer and chatting with friends about anything at all, Mr Mustard will instead be at Hendon Town Hall at 7pm to attend the constitution committee in order to support Mr Reasonable who has applied his considerable intellect to the agenda and will doubtless give it a damn good thrashing when he gets his 5 minutes to comment. There should still be time for a cheeky half in The Greyhound afterwards (next to the Church Farmhouse Museum that the council closed) so the evening will not be completely dry.

Looking at the "review" that has been done of forums it really is a half-baked amateur effort, and if this is the basis of their decision, cabinet will make a decision based upon an inadequate number of comments. There really does need to be a great drive to gather information about Residents Forums and communication with residents generally. Maybe they should be renamed as One Barnet forums? that would get the message across that a radical transformation programme is underway. It is clear though that the current way in which forums are mis-managed is not acceptable.

Anyway, do come along this evening and watch a collection of councillors talk about changing back to a committee system (away from the cabinet - the gang of 10 with complete power) the Residents Forums and some procedural changes such as to how School Governors are appointed.

The meeting has to finish by 10pm and the Greyhound is open until midnight.

Mr Mustard's social meetings are now going to be held quarterly as he tries to wrest control of his diary back.

Finally a warning for Richard Cornelius. Mr Mustard is going to ask you again about the car the council have stolen and which you promised to sort out 2 weeks ago today. #Fail.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

A Twist of the Wrist

Mr Mustard is a keen motorcyclist and has read the following book. It is more popular than he realised. How amusing that it should have been written by Keith Code, and not Code, of Conduct.

Twist Risk Basics

Mr Mustard will be on his motorcycle tomorrow in order to whizz (at 30mph max) to Cafe Buzz (free parking for motorcycles in pay & display bays whether the signs are blacked out or not). He will make sure he doesn't get in front of an erratically driven Toyota.

On Wednesday evening after Brian's grandstanding performance as Chairman of the Budget & Performance Overview & Scrutiny committee (some self scrutiny would now be in order) it is customary for the bloggers and friends and sometimes councillors of all 3 parties to retire to a well known local hostelry for a nice glass of Young's beer, a couple of large glasses of Sauvignon or a soft drink or shandy depending on the means of transport home. Mr Mustard usually gives a lift to anyone who needs one which is often another blogger or two. As he drove the blogger bus past the Town Hall the leader of the council Richard Cornelius was standing on the pavement chatting to other councillors and/or officers (Mr Mustard couldn't clock them all as he was driving) and so Mr Mustard gave Richard a cheery wave and Richard, being so polite, couldn't stop himself from waving back. He is such a sport that Mr Mustard is thinking of personally inviting him to the pub for a post-meeting libation and will stand him a drink (he hasn't told the other bloggers this but the pub is of course public so he is sure they will welcome a bit more company). The price of the drink is likely to be a thorough grilling by whoever is in the pub that night. Cameras will be kept in their bags and so there should not be any unseemly bar room brawls.

Mr Mustard likes to email Richard with advice or suggestions and he did it twice this week. So they don't feel left out every councillor gets their own copy except Brian Coleman for this one.

---

Dear Cllr. Cornelius

Oh dear. It seems, to all accounts, that a bad example has been set by Cllr Coleman (I have for once left him off the circulation list) and I doubt that this is the first time on which he has flouted the very parking regulations that he was responsible for until the Cabinet reshuffle.

I think the Council will look hypocritical if it continues to chase any unpaid parking tickets currently in issue for the same offence of a car parked in a loading bay and not in the process of loading.

Why don't you announce an amnesty for that offence? It can't be all that many tickets so would hardly affect the Special Parking Account (which isn't meant to be used for revenue raising in any event) and would generate some much needed good publicity for Barnet Council. You could tie the loading bay ticket cancellation offer to an undertaking from the motorist to not repeat the offence in the future thus achieving the laudable aim of improving compliance. It's a bit like those driver retraining days that are offered instead of penalty points, nudging citizens into better behaviour rather than beating them with a stick (in the form of a PCN).

Have a lovely weekend.

Yours sincerely

Mr Mustard

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Richard often replies but not always. He hasn't had time to reply to this recent message yet and he is probably now engaged on an evening of damage limitation and struggling with what he should do. It's too late to go back Richard, the damage is done, look here it is:

Broken Barnet; Broken Wrist

Start looking to the future. May 2014 is just around the corner (just like that mysterious black van, apparently)

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard