AN interesting headline: "City of York Council seeks volunteers to help maintain councillors' standards" (The Press, May 2).

Independent people being sought for an unpaid role in maintaining these standards: wouldn't it be wiser to have genuinely independent and unpaid people being elected as the councillors themselves, rather than the current crew who put party and their lucrative portfolio allowances first?

It might even uncover a few individuals capable of making smart decisions which align with the interests of the local residents.

I also note it's only to oversee the standards of councillors, and not the senior officers - they're the ones who are really in charge after all.

Though to oversee the civil service would involve the new recruits having to work from somebody else's home.

When the independent external auditors called out the wrongdoings of this authority, all we got was a cover up by the elected members.

Nobody resigned, nobody was sacked, so why should anybody believe this new idea will change the way they behave?

Dr Scott Marmion,

Woodthorpe,

York

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