Comments about Cornwall council’s latest financial shenanigans found on social media and email:
So! Cornwall Council hires Kate Kennally, a Chief Executive from Barnet at approx £170 thousand pounds per year to become Cornwall’s Chief Executive. She is seemingly incapable of carrying out her role and requests a mentor. Cornwall Council hires a shyster from Bristol at approx £170 thousand pounds per year to facilitate the development agenda and after a few months gives him the position of mentor to Kate Kennally!
So!! Kremlin Kernow’s Chief Executive now costs us about £340 thousand pounds an effin year!! 340 THOUSAND POUNDS of your hard earned cash!!!!!!!!!
I was tempted to whisper that, as I know few of you want to know you are being shafted big time !
Comments:
“Omg. I have heard rumours that CC is under investigation by the Secretary of State. Is that going to help or hinder??
Is this person's official title Mentor and is there a precedent for this?”
“I'd heard that a reshuffle of the top officers was on the cards.
But once again they've surpassed all previous cock ups.
I'd like to say I'm surprised?? But no!!”
“And the Kremlin say they're cash strapped... now we know why.
The question is; what are WE going to do about it? No point in bitching about it on here, no one can hear you.
Time we all stopped playing games and start fighting back.”
“Does anyone know for sure whether the Secretary of State is being called in. Found this about Rotherham and I wonder if it would work for us, albeit being written by those that took over. But sounds like ALL the old crowd left and they are building up a new Council from scratch. I'm no expert though so would welcome informed comment on it. Thanks.”
“I personally think that Cornwall Council could quite easily make the Poulson case look like a kid's party. And the Council can sue me for that opinion, if it wants. Let it all come out in court, eh?”
“Diabolical waste of our money.”
This might be of interest:
“It might be worth an FOI asking if Cornwall Council have had a financial resilience review undertaken the last few years. At least we'll see their true financial position.”
“If the elected members are incapable of doing the job they said they could then they should all resign so somebody who knows how to do the job can be brought in without paying ludicrous sums to out of county people!”
“These are staff that the elected members have chosen to employ. It is not clear what the process is, or who exactly is involved in the selection and appointment process for senior staff at Kremlin Kernow. One thing is sure, this in another opportunity for the run of the mill Councillors to grow a backbone and strive to change a Council that is currently out of control!!”
“I know our divisional member was a part of the interview and selection panel for Kate Kennally.
But as Mr BETTY has been apparently moved sideways have our elected Cllr's had any input??
Or is this once again officers taking the lead??”
“As a Cornwall Councillor I think the whole thing stinks, not even aware if the Cabinet were aware of the appointment of John Betty; all we got was an email telling us what she had done, I have to be careful what I put here but I for one am not happy about it.”
Just goes to show the officers are too powerful; they all need taking down a bit.”
“It’s a shocking state and evident there are few Councillors willing to stand ask awkward questions!”
Separately, self-explanatory correspondence:
Good morning Ken
I have not yet seen anything official actually announced but media reports seem credible, this could indicate that once more the Kremlin was hoping this would slip under the radar, which seems to be Bettys fall-back modus operandi as a measure of the contempt he appears to have for those who are forced to pay his considerable wages.
What has happened beggars belief being in my opinion yet another step along the way to a similar collapse to that witnessed recently in Northhamptonshire, given Ms Kenally’s alleged qualifications what on earth does she want a ‘’mentor’’ for, the more so because the person in question comes across as an absolute chancer, this latest debacle has also allowed Mason to cement his own power base as a consequence, which is not good news.
The rumbling discontent with build quality has resulted in a FB page entitled:-
www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=persimmons%20-%20unhappy%20customers and https://www.facebook.com/AVOIDPERSIMMONHOMES
where some real horror stories are emerging about serious faults with significant numbers of completed houses nationwide including the Goldings development at Lane (which Cornish Solidarity featured months ago) and almost inevitably Tolgarrick Farm, as more completions come on stream at that misbegotten site.
All this seems like water off of a duck’s back, as those at Kremlin Kernow focus single-mindedly (to the point of obsession) on delivering house completions at any cost.
Indeed, as usual, Councillor ''Bob the Builder'' Egerton has failed to respond to these points contained in an open letter addressed to him by Cornish Solidarity on July 20th 2018.
This is an intro to Councillor Egerton in his own words...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm3lAAzqVL8
Despite this bravado, the obvious cash-cade from housing bonus payments shows no sign of alleviating Kremlin Kernows yawning cash deficit while the imported retirees continue to place ever more strains on the already creaking health and social care system to the extreme disadvantage of those locals who have spent their lives funding the system.
I am watching developments with interest and look forward to hearing everyone’s views next time we get together.
Kr,
Kevin
From: Kenneth Rickard <ken1932@kennethrickard.plus.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 8, 2018 8:38:19 PM
To: kevin.bennetts@hotmail.com
Subject: John Betty,
Hi Kevin,
Has there been any official announcement about the latest John Betty fiasco? I only heard about it today. From what I hear, this is a massive issue that must not go unchallenged; I have always said KK cannot do the job properly. Who sanctioned this?
Ken.
One first of all has to ask: exactly what useful role does John Betty play, and does he hold an essential post within a Council that declares itself to be cash-strapped? The second question is: was any advertisement placed for his job when it first came up, or was he simply head-hunted and drafted in without competition from other candidates? If the latter, then it was most certainly a highly unethical appointment, and might even be an unlawful one. Has anyone looked into this?
Which reminds me...I still haven't had a reply to my FOI regarding disclosure of Duchy involvement in Council affairs, so must get onto that this week. All that they have admitted so far is that correspondence with the secretive, unelected Duchy Council (described by Wiki as a "government") averages more than one day over the 10 years this Council has been in existence. Which should be ringing alarm bells for anyone.
I have challenged Cornwall Council before about the lack of quality, both for Linden builds and Robinson builds. I have a meeting with the developer on the 26 September. He has requested that I bring Paul White along but is not happy for me to take Zoe to minute stuff even though he wants his PA there taking notes....
You all may remember, or maybe not, but back in the late 80s, SW Water imposed a sewerage embargo on developments within some parts of Cornwall, because the sewerage system couldn't cope with demand. This is now the case again, with a whole lot worse in terms of demand, planned but not catered for, and yet no embargo. So, how about CS putting a lot of pressure on SW Water to impose another?
A question for Adam Paynter, leader of Kremlin Kernow:- In these times of openness and transparency, will Cornwall Council implement a system where all committee and cabinet votes within Cornwall Council and its companies, are recorded and available for public scrutiny ? Also, fully minute, meetings, whether formal or informal, where currently no minutes are taken?
Message from Cornwall Councillor Sharon Daw (Conservative - Lynher, SE Cornwall) sent to KMTU:
"Daw Sharon CC - sharon.daw@cornwallcouncillors.org.uk
10:31 AM 10/09/2018
Building in Cornwall is out of control. The last thing we need is more housing for incoming people and second homes.... it’s about time this council woke up to the impending disaster... where are the housing for low paid carers?.... where’s the housing for elderly people to age fit for purpose homes with hoists and accessibility as people age warden controlled and family units so carers female daughters who seem to be lowest paid fitting in several part time jobs family life struggling with debt looking after elderly parents? It’s a disgrace and I am embarrassed to watch it happen.
CC Sharon Daw"