The post you are reporting:
Most Councillors are volunteers of course,when you see how much they 'earn' in the newspapers soon that only tells a small part of what they do,Sue is heavily involved in lots of things I know and she and I even serve on the Dover Federation for the Arts,along with Jim Hood and Barry W.
Council work at DDC is paid,while Town Councillors do it for next to nothing,I heard recently that they do get expenses now,although they didn't in my 4 Years.But as I say what you read in the Newspapers at Council meetings is only a tiny part of what we do.We have group meetings and Sue and Nigel have Cabinet meetings,then of course it depends on what your position is on the Council,Nigel and Sue will have loads of meetings with groups and Individuals,while us little people on the Council have our ward work,this is sometimes the best and worst of Council work.
It can be so frustrating when some of your constituents have a problem and ask for help,you then have meetings,e-mailing people,phone calls and even when everyone agree it can still take months to resolve,e.g. soon after I became a Councillor I had a call from someone who wanted a parking spot outside his flat,nothing unusual there,but this man had a muscle wasting disease that would eventually kill him,after months of fighting his corner and having several meetings and dozens of phone calls,I eventually got it,only for him to move out of the Town!
That is only one example of many,then of course there are things that you don't hear we do,these can be personal,or private for many reasons,and then we volunteer for other groups clubs societies and organisations.
As an example,and this is to show you what some Councillors do,not for praise the easiest way is to tell you what Clubs etc I am involved with; Dover Federation for the Arts as I have said,which involves 4 Schools,Vice Chair at Priory Fields,Vice Chair of the Dover History Society,Dover Sea Cadets,Curzon Rangers F.C. Dover Lions,and I work full time around the Clock in my real job,that is why I have the greatest of respect for anyone who stands as a Councillor,because then the local newspaper will take the mickey out of you if it can,and as I have said before me being just a Councillor get about £8 a day,and I haven't mentioned the forrest of papers we have delievered on a daily/weekly/basis,the last lot was the LDF which was over 500 pages!
Just because I like politics,and I want to help and fight injustice.
