Appeal: A Penpal for Jimbo the (Tory) Partyman!

For many years now – and in recent times, all the more so – members of the public have been communicating their common concern that Mr Jim DILLON, Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service at Scarborough Borough Council, has been looking a forlorn figure – frazzled, even.

The task of conserving the creaking cronygarchy of the Conservative Group for twelve long years may have melted his mettle, corroded his confidence and crippled his customary congeniality, poor soul.

As followers of Council affairs will know, there is an Item close to the top of every Agenda for a Full Council Meeting in which the Chief Exec is called upon to report on any correspondence he has received in relation to Council business.

• ORDINARY MEETINGS
• 3.1 Ordinary meetings of the Council will take place in accordance with a programme decided at the Council’s Annual Meeting. Ordinary meetings will: (ii) receive any announcements from the Mayor or the Chief Executive.
• AGENDA
• 4. To consider any communications received by the Chief Executive.

But no-one seems to be able to recall an occasion on which Mr DILLON took advantage of this unique opportunity to exercise democratic transparency and share with his Councillors, Directors and Paymasters (we, the press and public) the content of his incoming correspondence. Consequently, we are left to conclude either that the CEO is know as ‘Silent Jim’ for good reason, or that nobody ever writes to him. Which would be sad – tragic, even.

It is not as though there is never any correspondence directed to the Chief Exec. Indeed, the Enquirer has published into the public domain a number of communications, both setting out information for him (and his Council) to consider and seeking answers to important matters of conspicuous public interest.

They must have slipped poor Jimbo’s mind – understandable, perhaps, given the huge demands of juggling the Council’s actions without the safety-net of the Constitution.

Nevertheless, the Constitution does ensure that it remains open to citizens (and denizens), irrespective of size, shape, colour, nationality and religion, to correspond with our most senior paid public servant on any topic of the writer’s own choosing – the MARRIOTT cover-up, the parking fiasco, the unsigned 2015/16 accounts, the Futurist 20-year subsidy bamboozle, the apology to the JACONELLI victims/survivors, the AWOL No Confidence vote, the Directors’ private property portfolios, etc, etc – all covered in detail here on this site – in the confidence that their concerns will not be allowed to vanish into the impenetrable void between the Chief Executive’s ears.

In response to requests and suggestions put forward by members of the public, Parish Councillors, Borough Councillors, County Councillors and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, the Enquirer has now committed to coming to the Chief Exec’s aid by launching this appeal – ‘The Penpal Project’.

Everybody deserves a Penpal!

Why not write to Jim DILLON? Express a little sympathy, offer a shoulder to cry on? Contribute well-meaning tips regarding the correct pronunciation of English words in common usage? What about a postcard from rural West Suffolk, featuring the logo of the Audit Commission? Perhaps even a bullet-point resumé of the most fundamental requirements of the Council’s Constitution – accompanied, if correspondents wish, by pen-and-ink sketches or even elaborate watercolours of the notable achievements of past Mayors of Scarborough? What about a functional template for drafting legally binding Traffic Regulation Orders? Or a map of the Borough, disclosing the existence of Whitby and Filey? Surely such objets à l’aide de mémoire might bring a wee smile to dour Jimbo’s hermetically sealed lips?

Should readers wish to assist in the appeal, please address all correspondence either by email (optionally Cc:’ing the Enquirer: news@nyenquirer.uk) to:

Jim.Dillon@scarborough.gov.uk

. . . or by snail mail to:

Mr JAMES McGARVIE DILLON,
Chief Executive Officer and Head of Paid Service,
Scarborough Borough Council,
Town Hall,
St Nicholas Street,
SCARBOROUGH,
North Yorkshire.
YO11 2HG

. . . failing that, try the following commercial address (perhaps it will reach him there somehow?):

Mr JAMES McGARVIE DILLON
Director
Crescent View Management (SCARBOROUGH) Ltd
1 Harcourt Place
SCARBOROUGH
North Yorkshire
YO11 2EP

Nota Bene: It is inadvisable to send parcels, much as readers may wish to bestow gifts upon our great Chief Executive – a moral compass, a colour-coded envelope-opener (brown), three tickets for the OAT, a gold figurine of Sir Gary VANITY – as objects such as these are likely to present security issues for the Town Hall staff, who must be ever mindful of the risk of terrorist action, cyber or otherwise. Thank you.