Council staff boost

SEAFORD Town Council will employ another member of staff to assist the growing number of people stopping by at its Broad Street HQ, Hurdis House.

SEAFORD Town Council will employ another member of staff to assist the growing number of people stopping by at its Broad Street HQ, Hurdis House.

Councillors have agreed an extra part-time administrative assistant is needed to back up the current workforce. At present it consists of a part-time administrative assistant, a full-time committee administrator and the town clerk.

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Members were told the town clerk was working a minimum of 50 hours per week as a result of a number of projects, including the South Downs National Park scheme, the new code of conduct for councillors, CCTV cameras, Christmas lights and the town's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Council statistics show that in the first 18 months of Hurdis House's opening 5,057 people visited or telephoned with inquiries.

They also reveal that the number of townsfolk visiting the HQ from April to September 2002 has almost doubled to 2,271 from 1,163, compared to the same period in 2001.

Local issues

Town clerk Len Fisher said a new staff member would allow more flexible cover while colleagues were on holiday and deal with the people who stopped by at Hurdis House with a query about local issues.

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'It's testament to the professional manner with which people are dealt with that they come back time and time again to us,' he added.

A random analysis of 156 complaints received by the council revealed that 77 were the responsibility of East Sussex County Council; 75, Lewes District Council and just four, Seaford Town Council.

In his report to councillors Mr Fisher said: 'Clearly, one could argue that a tremendous amount of clerical time is being taken by officers of this council on matters which should be dealt with elsewhere, but the other side of the argument is that the council is fulfilling a public need with a central point of contact that has the expertise to listen and deal with public complaints.'

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