No change at top of Helston Council, unless elections stymie plans!

11:00am Thursday 7th March 2013 in News

There is set to be no change in the leadership of Helston Town Council for the forthcoming year - provided elections don't throw a spanner in the works.

Currently serving mayor Jonathan Radford-Gaby and deputy mayor Michael Thomas have once again been nominated for their respective roles during the 2013/2014 civic year.

They were uncontested during a nominations meeting of the council last Thursday, as the only candidates put forward.

It is generally traditional for Helston's post holders to serve two terms in office before a change of faces, but as the town saw two years ago this is not always guaranteed.

When it came to then-mayor John Boase coming up for re-nomination in 2011 there was something of a hoo-ha. At the time the council nominated behind closed doors and sensationally voted against Mr Boase serving a second term.

This caused such uproar in the town, however, that this decision was abandoned and nominations took place again, this time in public - where they have remained ever since. 

This time there was no such drama, the only potential fly in the ointment being the impending county, town and parish elections taking place less than a fortnight before Helston's mayor-making ceremony.

On May 2 Helston, along with all other towns and parishes in Cornwall, will head to the polls and of course there is no guarantee that Mr Radford-Gaby and Mr Thomas will keep their seats.

Should this happen new nominations will have to be made at the scheduled mayor-making ceremony on May 14, as the decision cannot be deferred.

Comments(17)

Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
12:49pm Thu 7 Mar 13

I am glad Councillor Jonathan Radford-Gaby is to serve his second year in office as Mayor, he has done a good job so far. Election time will be interesting and I hope he is re elected along with Councillor Thomas. One other councillor I would like to have seen re elected I believe will not be standing again.

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ronedgcumbe says...
1:49pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Seems odd to ellect a leader before before electing a council.

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
2:17pm Thu 7 Mar 13

The current town council still runs until May and therefore has to have a leader, so presumably if the leaders position is up for renewal of its second term it has to be decided now and covered until the time of election.

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ronedgcumbe says...
3:22pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Still seems odd as the new council may want a new leader.

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ronedgcumbe says...
5:22pm Thu 7 Mar 13

I would of thout new councilors would like a say in who leads the council. I have heard labour are putting up people for election, I would not think they would be happy with a tory leader if they were elected.

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
6:40pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Maybe not, but politics should not come into it. Alec Robertson is Conservative but credit where due he voted correctly in the budget fiasco.

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
2:00am Fri 8 Mar 13

Incidentally, it should not matter as to which, if any, political party any Helston town councillor adheres to, it is their input into the correct and efficient running of the town council, additionally their commitment to serve the town to the towns advantage as opposed to following any personal agenda that the emphasis should be upon.

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ronedgcumbe says...
7:03am Fri 8 Mar 13

Gillian Zella Martin 09 wrote:
Maybe not, but politics should not come into it. Alec Robertson is Conservative but credit where due he voted correctly in the budget fiasco.
I agree party politics has no place at town council level. A lot of the problems in Helston has stemed from this.

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ronedgcumbe says...
7:06am Fri 8 Mar 13

Sorry I have qouted your wrong comment Gill it should of your latest one.

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
11:06am Fri 8 Mar 13

No problem Ron, I understood the connection anyway.

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coronation-boy says...
12:59pm Sat 9 Mar 13

I think in helston you are considered a succsessfull mayor as long as you dont make a complete fool of yourself

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
3:27pm Sat 9 Mar 13

I don't think making a fool of oneself stops anyone from being successful, I have made a complete fool of myself in the past but it didn't stop me being good at my job.

In Costcutters in Porthleven the other day the assistant made me laugh with his antics and his co worker said to me "it's like being served by Norman Wisdom" he was still excellent at his job though.

I think each Mayor of Helston brings their own qualities to the job.

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ronedgcumbe says...
9:36am Sun 10 Mar 13

As there as not been an election for seven years and only one councilor has been properly elected by the people of Helston I think a few on the council are in for shock in may.
How arrogant and typical of this waste of money council to put up a leader before anyone has even had the chance to vote.

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Helston Observer says...
10:57am Mon 1 Apr 13

You do have to laugh at some of the ignorance of certain people who like to think they know about HTC. Of course they cannot elect a leader for a Council who do not exist, they have nominated a mayor as by their own standing orders they have to do, but the new Council will of course have the opportunity to vote on this at the formal mayor making meeting. I do so sincerely hope that people who loudly comment on this and other sites, but who prove time and again that they clearly know absolutely nothing about what they're talking about, do not get elected to the Council. Helston does not need to replace the ignorant and uninformed with more of the same!

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Helston Observer says...
11:13am Mon 1 Apr 13

As a secondary point, whilst I know what Ron means about only one councillor having been properly elected, the people of Helston, I'm afraid, only have themselves to blame for this. Just over a year ago, there were two vacancies created when two very good councillors resigned for their own reasons. At the time, there were lots of comments going onto sites like this, and you might have thought that there would have been a healthy number of people coming forward to stand for these seats. So what happened? Only one candidate stood for each seat, so they were elected unopposed. As far as i know, the two who filled those seats have been some of the best on that council. The point is, do not blame the individuals who do give so generously of their time for free (remember there are no alowances for town councillors) for the total apathy and inactivity of everyone else.

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Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
12:35pm Mon 1 Apr 13

Some people including myself that comment on this site are ineligible to stand for election in Helston despite it being their nearest town and holding other interests within the town.

With regard to co-opted in Councillors as opposed to elected by vote Councillors, I personally do not see what difference that makes to the job they do. Co-opted in Councillors can be just as efficient and dedicated as those elected by vote.

I do not claim to know everything about Helston Town Council that is why I said in one of my previous posts "presumably" because I was only hazarding a guess, leaving it open for anyone to correct me.

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Helston Observer says...
5:58am Tue 2 Apr 13

In my view, if more people like Gillian Zella Martin would stand for election, Helston would be a better place. Please know that it was not GZM to whom my comment was directed, rather another who consistently comments and seems, from what little even I know about the workings of HTC, to get it spectacularly wrong, then loudly trumpets his intention to stand for election. There is only one co-opted member on HTC at the moment, and that would be the most recent addition. All others were, I believe, elected unopposed or voted on many years ago. It does need a clear out and a full and proper election would be a good thing, although there are currently serving people among them that I would hope would be re-elected. When watching from the public benches, it's easy to see which are which.

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