Page 24 - Phonebox Magazine June 2006

Mercury Report
Olney Town Council Meeting of Monday 8th May 2006
Farewell Sally
Mayor Sally Rogers was present at the meeting in order to officiate in the handing over to the new Mayor. Prior to the start of the meeting a presentation took place from the Floral Fiesta ‘Queen Mother’ Elaine Baron and the outgoing Queen and Princesses Jessica Richardson, Charlotte Wade, Stephanie Noble and Paige Mason. They wished Sally luck in her new life in Tasmania and presented her with a linen floral bouquet made by Fiesta Chairman Sheila Bull. Sally thanked them for their support at the various functions they had all attended and said that they had been a credit to the town.
Election of Town Mayor and Deputy
Paul Watson was proposed by Tony Evans and was unanimously elected to the post of Mayor. Sally Rogers then vacated the chair and Paul took over the meeting. He said that he felt greatly privileged to be elected and would do his best to uphold the traditions of the town. He then signed the declaration of acceptance. John ‘Jock’ Smail was proposed as Deputy Mayor by Alan Richardson and duly elected.
Election of committees
There are a number of sub-committees which meet separately to the main council and elections then took place for the members and Chairs of those committees. The Chairs are as follows:
Recreations and Services – Tony Evans Planning Liaison – John Sharp
Dickens of a Christmas – Paul Watson
Finance – Paul Watson
Olney Centre Management – Alan Richardson.
Paul thanked Tony Evans for his Chairmanship of this committee for the past fourteen years and said that he had been instrumental in the restoration of the building, leading up to the opening in 1992.
Co-option of new member
As reported at the last meeting ex-landlord of The Castle, Andy James, had not attended a meeting or sent apologies for the last six months so was now effectively disqualified from being a councillor. A vacancy had therefore arisen which would be filled by co-option. Any number of residents can offer themselves for co-option, but a public election would only be necessary if ten or more members of the electorate request it. There had been no request for an election (the local populace probably suffering from ‘election overdose’!) but three members of the public had put themselves forward for co-option. They were Valery Menzies, Mike Hughes and Alan Price. One of these was not an Olney resident, but it was pointed out that this was not necessary so long as the applicant lived within three miles of Olney. A secret ballot took place and Mike Hughes was elected. Mike had previously been a member of the council some three years ago and said he was looking forward to taking his seat on the council again.
At this point Paul Watson offered his congratulations to Debbie Brock, who was in attendance as an observer, for her success in the recent elections for Milton Keynes Council.
New School Campus
The delayed opening of the school was reported at last month’s meeting and has been the subject of considerable coverage, both in the local press and the campaign literature from the two main parties in the recent election. An Extraordinary Meeting of the council had been held recently between the Town Council, senior officers from MKC and senior staff from Ousedale at which the recovery plan had been presented. It was felt that an acceleration plan to bring the opening back on track would be too risky and the decision had been made to delay occupation of Block A (the main area) until after the October half term, followed by Block B (Sports Hall, Assembly Hall etc.) at the beginning of November. A contingency plan has been put in place which will involve the year 9 students remaining at the Newport Campus until October and the years 7 and 8 being bussed to temporary accommodation at Oakgrove School at Middleton. Free transport will be provided and the staff will move with them. A site visit to the Olney Campus for the Town Council has been arranged for 3rd July and Milton Keynes Council have committed to providing a monthly progress report.
Anti-Social behaviour
This item had been placed on the agenda following last month’s presentation from some residents of Hipwell Court. John Sharp said that it would be discussed at the next meeting of the Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG). Sally Rogers thought that part of the problem was that there is little or no police presence in the town on a
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