Good question Howard! When was a re-tender announced?
In the meantime we have no toilet on the seafront - at least we have no open toilet on the seafront at the height of our season. If I read all this correctly there were three bids. Two were withdrawn. One was left on the table. That one was the Pebbles CIC. The application was referred to the monitoring officer at DDC for adjudication because of Sue Jone's position as a councillor and one that had been heavily involved in the toilets project at the beginning. The monitoring officer appears to have cleared Sue of any wrong doing under all the codes of blaa blaa stuff the codes state.
So there is no case to answer as far as the blaa blaa stuff is concerned, we still have one bid. Why has no decision been made? What a waste of time calling an EGM! It is about time the Councillors who were charged with making the decision grew a pair of balls and made a decision. Instead they are hiding and stringing out this debacle which as Peter so rightly says, has been a lot of hard work that has achieved nothing. We are told that Sue withdrew from the WC discussions once she and Ross had decided that they should put in a bid. Well done her.
3 bids overall. Two withdrawn. Does that not indicate to anyone that this is not really a money spinner?
Now, to further my rant a little bit. What is a CIC? It is a COMMUNITY INTEREST company. Ross Miller and Sue Jones by virtue of the hours and hours they spend working for, in and on behalf of the community demonstrate to me that they are INTERESTed in the COMMUNITY. The CIC statement on the Web site does not talk about running toilets! It says this about the network:
Are you a member of a local group, charity or organisation?
Do you need more members? More funds?
Would you like to network with other voluntary organisations?
If the answer to any of these questions is YES, you need to join our network.
Dover Community Network is a new way to collaborate to raise funds, increase membership and maximise activity. We all know how hard it is today to keep going and it is often difficult to step back and see what we could be doing better. We want to help by bringing together all the skills, knowledge and passion of the local volunteering community and sharing them so we can all benefit.
The network is free to join, you just need to be based in Dover or have the majority of your membership living in the town. Members will be listed together in one place on our website. New members are offered a free 1 hour session to review their needs. If there are specific areas with which you want bespoke professional low cost assistance we can offer this too.
Bespoke services include:
Updating your governance procedures and constitution
Reviewing funding needs and preparing a budget
Applying for funding
It seems to me that whoever is at the root of the S*** stirring and perpetuation of this non story should get with the programme and perhaps buy a ticket in to the real world! The very idea that a CIC (or anyone else for that matter) can run a toilet facility and a little shop/kiosk and make any money worthy of being called a salary is beyond my comprehension. Is there anyone that really thinks that Sue and Ross will be off to the Cayman Islands to register their Yacht on the proceeds of this enterprise?
This whole hulla balloo underlines to me one of the reasons willing and able people do not put themselves up for public service any more. The fact is, David in his inimitable way has a point, and I for one lament that these people are being lambasted for seeing an opportunity for serving this town even more than they already do. If there is to be a re-tender, maybe their detractors would like to get off their sorry backsides and bid too!
Bring back William Crundle.
Ends rant, and walks off in to the sunshine.