Unemployed Bill was only elected on 11th June, 2014 and had no previous experience of being a councillor and yet he has been given a slew of "jobs" by the imbecilic Labour "leader", Darren Cooper.
In a recent post, I pointed out that Bill, and those close to him, have been involved with a large number of companies which have all been dissolved according to Companies House records. Notwithstanding that, the brainbox from Smethwick has appointed Bill as Sadwell's, er, "business ambassador". You couldn't make it up....
Bill does have a significant history of running bars and clubs and was placed on the Licensing Committee. Assuming that he is not still "keeping his hand in" with the trade this looked like one of the lunatic "leader's" better decisions but Bill was, er, taken off that Committee after just one year!
As a tyro Councillor in June, 2014 the SMBC website shows that Bill was immediately placed on the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Board . the Oldbury Town Service Improvement [sic] Board and, no doubt because of his unemployed status , Sadwell's "Youth Employment Commission" whatever the f*ck that is.
But after just one year as a councillor, Bill hit the big time. In May, 2015, and again with his current experience of unemployment, he was placed by Darren Cooper, on the "Jobs, Economy and Enterprise Committee" but as Sadwell Labour loathe business and entrepreneurship this was unlikely to take up much of the time of a man with, seemingly, such considerable talents. Thus he was appointed to Cllr Mahboob Hussain's old fiefdom, the re-named "Land and Asset Management Committee" and not just as a mere member of this important body but AS ITS CHAIR!!!! (Historical note for new readers - this Committee has authorised sundry land sales of our, publicly-owned, land and some very dubious transactions - mostly delegated to SMBC "directors" Nick Bubalo and Neeraj Sharma to finalise - have followed including at least three sales to sons of current councillors).
Even in the fantasy world occupied by Cllr Cooper you might think that even he would have appointed an experienced "big-hitter" to be Chair of this scandal-rocked Committee instead of an inexperienced rookie but not a bit of it. (Yes, I know, experienced big-hitters are in very short supply in the socialist utopia). We will have to keep a close eye on the Committee to make sure no-one is pushing anything naughty through, won't we readers?
As the new Sandwell website is out-of-date with information on Councillors' allowances I wrote to Bill asking him how much he is scoring by way of "special responsibility" payments on top of his normal allowance for being a councillor. For reasons that are not clear, Bill passed this on the the po-faced head of Sadwell legal [sic], Neeraj Sharma, to respond and she has stated that Bill "just" gets a single special payment specifically "as Chair of the Land and Asset Committee", ie since May, 2015, of £5,256.
I did ask Bill another question in the email which his spokesperson, Sharma, refused to answer as it was a "personal" matter and when I saw him last night he also refused to give a straight, unequivocal, answer. The question was whether Bill was one and the same person as the "William Gavan" who donated £5,000 to West Bromwich East Labour Party on 7th April, 2015. Bill equivocated and refused to confirm this but did say that "it was a matter of public record". I said that was only partially true since the public records for political donations only shows the name of the donor and no other details. He then mysteriously said he didn't imagine there was another "William Gavan" in the whole area and challenged me to find one!?!
Thus I do not have 100% proof that Bill WAS the donor but IF he was then let me remind you of the timeline:
11/06/14 - unemployed Bill, with no previous experience, elected as a new Labour councillor;
07/04/15 - "William Gavan" - a "private individual" donates £5,000 to West Brom East Labour;
26/05/15 - Bill Gavan leapfrogs colleagues to become not just a member but CHAIR of the Land etc Committee which will pay him back £5,256 per annum.
You will not be surprised, readers, that I am sending a copy of this blogpost to dear Bill and asking AGAIN for an unequivocal answer about the donation. I will let you know the response!
Of course, I am not suggesting anything untoward in the above timeline. I just find it "interesting", don't you folks?
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com facebook Julian Saunders
Confidential phone no: 07599 983737 twitter @bcrover (Vernon Grant)
Good site.
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