Working after Winning in Watford

by Dorothy Thornhill, Liberal Democrat Mayor of Watford

Dorothy Thornhill was directly elected Mayor of Watford in May with nearly 70 per cent of the vote

The triumph and excitement of election night provided no insight at all to the reality of my day-to-day work as elected Mayor of Watford.

My role as elected Mayor is full time and more. I find myself doing seven day weeks. I have a diary packed with meetings and a burden of correspondence that equates to about 200 letters a week.

The Mayor’s office has become the focus for sorting out all problems and issues that face the town. It is becoming an important port of call for many individual citizens. And on top of all this casework, I have to do my main job of actually running the Council.

All this is to sound too bureaucratic. In many ways the role is a great opportunity to cut through systems and processes and talk direct to real people and local residents. I have made it a key tenet of my term of office that I am accessible and accountable.

To this end I have an open diary and often see members of the public about their very specific problem. I have a intense programme of speaking to local groups such as churches, schools, youth groups and so on. We are currently in the process of having a regular surgery slot around the town.

In terms of the Council itself I could never have imagined the mess that I was going to inherit from Labour. Part of the issue has been the number of independent reports condemning the failings of the Council and criticising councillors for being in denial about the problems. I have been determined to face up to the challenge and have accepted the criticisms and resolved to address them.

Accordingly we are instituting tough financial controls to bring spending and the Council Tax under control. We are reviewing staffing structures to ensure that they are fit for the purpose, and consumers are now at the centre of our vision. It is often the case that many of the issues that people bring to me would be addressed if the Council had a stronger customer focus.

On a broader note I am struck at the number of offers of help that we have received, for example from IdeA, the District Audit Service. Fellow Liberal Democrats, especially in Liverpool, Three Rivers and Cambridge have also been good at offering advice.

But, most obviously, ideas have come from local residents themselves. The correspondence we receive is largely praising us for what we are doing and trying to do to put Lib Dem policies into practice. The Labour and Tory parties are covering themselves in no glory with their petty sniping and carping. We intend to press on with our agenda for change.