Cromarty Rising

Yesterdays oil leak was about the board – a little more on that. Where is the accountability? – there are only one set of published minutes from February 2015 on the CFPA website –  the link is currently broken but you can read them HERE. What do they tell us? Well for a 3 and a half hour meeting they are a bit on the scant side – they talked about the stranded Ukranian boat, scrapping a crane, a new security contract, the marketing budget and the downturn in the oil industry resulting in more stacked rigs and less STS. Why then would they proceed with a business plan based on STS to pay the loan interest?

They talked about the marketing budget and phase 3 expansion, including meeting HIE to report progress – HIE were part funding to the tune of £4 million in return for 600 direct and indirect jobs being created. See: http://www.oilpubs.com/oso/article.asp?v1=14891. We assume HIE carried out an assessment to make sure those jobs were created before thinking about investing in public money in the phase 4 expansion – an interesting question for someone to ask HIE perhaps?

Capt. C Slater also reported the appointment of Ms Zeina Melville who has been brought in as a Business Development consultant. Ms Melville according to her LinkedIn profile was commercial director with Sparrows Group 2010-2014; a sharp observer would note that would have coincided with CEO Bob Buskie’s term at Sparrows as Startegy and  Business Development Director for Sparrows (http://cfpa.co.uk/News/New-Hand-at-Helm-of-Cromarty-Firth-Port-Authority.aspx).

The CFPA operate and manage the Cromarty Firth for our benefit as stakeholders – they are not a private company, they are not a public body but they do look after an important public asset – we call on them to publish the rest of their board minutes – that would at least show accountability and transparency in decision making.

Going back to the subject of the make up of the board, here’s the 2013 advert for board members:

Recruitment Begins for New Board Members

We are seeking to appoint three new Board members to our non-executive Board in January 2014. Board members are appointed for their experience, skills and business acumen. The new appointees will need to have skills and experience that will complement the existing Board members. Board members are appointed for a period of three years and meet on average ten days per year, however there may be a need to attend additional meetings and events throughout the year.

 Preference will be given to applicants with the following skills:

• Oil and gas marine experience
• Civil engineering experience
• Business development and management
• HR management

 CFPA has recently embarked on a major expansion project of its Invergordon Service Base, at an estimated construction value of £20m. This is expected to commence in early 2014 and complete by the middle of 2015. These are challenging and rewarding positions in a growing port business.

Where is stakeholder representation at board level? Who represents the environment? local communities? Local government? Renewable energy?