Mayor of Market Drayton defends £1,400 cost of civic medals
Market Drayton's mayor has defended the town council's spending £1,442 on 20 commemorative medals for former mayors.
The decision was criticised in a residents' letter aired at last Thursday's annual town meeting, where mayor Mark Whittle said the badges would improve ex-mayors' standing when representing the town.
The letter was written by a resident who was unable to attend the meeting, where electors asked questions of Market Drayton Town Council's councillors.
It asked what the reasoning was for £72.10 per badge of the council's budget being spent. A dozen of them will be given to ex-mayors and the remainder will be retained for future mayors.
The letter called the spending on the medals "a misuse of council money".
At the meeting Councillor Whittle said the money spent on the 20 medals translated to 19p for each day of the ex-mayors' service.
He said: "As mayor you represent the town wherever you are. That is 24 hours a day for the 365 days of the year.
"And you will continue that no matter what country you are in. When they put that badge on they still go with the pride of Market Drayton.
"Other councils give similar medals to their mayors who serve the towns.
"It means a lot to us to hand them out and it means a lot to the recipients."
The decision to pay for the badges was made at a meeting of the town council's community and governance committee on March 7.
