Today and yesterday most of my time has been taken up with the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Yesterday scores of polling stations across Swansea were open for electors to participate – the first time in Wales when showing photo ID was compulsory. Today we’re running the count in the Brangwyn Hall and our results will feed into the regional centre which, this time, is being hosted by colleagues in Neath Port Talbot. Seamless as it may seem to the general public, a huge amount of effort by our staff goes into these occasions. So my thanks go to Huw Evans, Alison O’Hara and their teams as well as the many staff who stepped up for a long day hosting voters in polling stations and at the Brangwyn today.
Last week I mentioned I’d be returning to themes from my appraisal from time to time. The first of the seven topics is about reputation and the action I’ll need to take to provide visible leadership to promote the city and the council locally, nationally and regionally, working closely with the Leader to promote Team Swansea. There’s a list of measures that considers issues like performance and the staff and residents’ surveys which all provide vital information about the impact we’re having on supporting Swansea communities. Every contact you have with the public, and every effort you make to improve what you do can make a difference to the services we provide to our communities. It all affects our reputation and that is why it’s as essential to my appraisal assessment as it is to yours. Thank you again for your support and ongoing commitment.
On Tuesday I was pleased to join colleagues from the council and partner organisations across Swansea to celebrate the achievements of the Swansea Poverty Truth Commission, the first of its kind in Wales. The event was staged at the Dylan Thomas Centre and brought to an end the work of the commission over the last couple of years. You can find out more about it here. There are many to thank including Swansea Council for Voluntary Service who led the work, but most especially those who live with poverty every day for sharing their experiences so we can improve our services for people like them.
Well done to our Evolve youth service, our Early Help Hubs, the Partnership & Involvement team and our Ageing Well team for working with city youngsters to help break down barriers with older people. A recent initiative developed by young people themselves to invite elders to a series of tea parties around the city paid off with a final event at the National Waterfront Museum at the weekend.
Birthday greetings this week go to Sketty Library which celebrated its centenary day on Wednesday. Sketty Library’s history demonstrates just how much their vitality depends upon those who work there. My congratulations to Anthony Ball and the team at Sketty and to all our library staff who do a great job supporting their neighbourhoods.
Farewell today to three leavers, who have put in well over a century of service to our communities. Sarah Williams retires after 23 years in our library service, most recently as manager in Brynhyfryd. Jon Roberts and Mark Singh leave us after 41 years and 42 years respectively in Building Control. As it happens Mark and I go back a very long way – to the mid-1980s in fact, when we studied on the same HND course at Swansea Institute. You will all be a huge loss to the Council, and I wanted to wish you good luck to you all with your plans for the future.
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