21 January (Part 2) - Laughing at you; all the way to the bank
The golden goodbyes are flowing thick and fast in Watling Street. It’s not
often that confirmation of who has actually taken the money and run becomes
available but the names Ellershaw, Bashir, Tottman and Frizoni have all come to
notice recently - all on near £100,000 (some over) salaries. Some of their
personal pages on the council’s website have gone. And don’t forget
Mark Charters who fled last June.
Mike Frizoni’s disappearance was
forecast last November but with Bexley trying
its damnedest to keep everything quiet it’s not easy to get quick confirmation
of any senior staff changes. However not everything can be kept secret for ever.
Today’s Public Announcement on the creeping yellowing of Bexley’s streets (around 30 of
them this time,
click here to
see the list) is signed off by Graham Ward, suggesting that Frizoni has
indeed gone, suitably enriched by Bexley’s ever generous council tax payers.
These top level staff cuts are really rather annoying. If the £50 million black hole
is forcing Bexley council’s hand now, why didn’t they make those senior staff cuts in 2010 when
Bexley faced a £36 million hole? All they did then was raise parking charges and
all their other fees, reduce services, cut rank and file staff numbers and freeze their pay.
If we can do without a load of top brass now, why not four years ago when the borough was a little
bit smaller than it is now?
If you think that bosses always look after themselves until the bitter end, you
may perhaps have a point. The next set of accounts should reveal how much richer they are now.
