THE cost of producing a commemorative medallion for the retiring mayor each year is being slashed by thousands of pounds by ditching gold for silver, a council report reveals.
Every year the retiring mayor and mayoress are presented with medallions in recognition of their service to the borough.
The mayor’s 9ct gold medallion cost an estimated £7,385 to produce based on the last contract negotiation in 2014.
Now to save money the council wants to switch to a silver-gilt medallion for the mayor, while keeping the design the same. This brings the cost down to an estimated £3,330. The smaller mayoress’s medallion will cost about £2,210.
The figures are only estimates, because both the 2014 contract and the proposed new contract include multiple medallions. In 2014 it was £24,801.23 excluding VAT but including a discount. This was for three mayors and three mayoresses’ medallions.
The proposed new contract is for two of the new silver mayors’ medallions and one mayoress's medallion.
Former Mayor of Barnsley John Parkinson said: “Serving as the Mayor of Barnsley is a great honour, and I think it’s a fitting tradition that this presentation is made. However, whether it’s gold or silver, it doesn’t really matter when you have had the honour of serving as the first citizen.
“I am surprised to learn the level of the costs, I had no idea, and in these difficult financial times I can understand the council’s position in wanting to reduce the cost. Everybody should shoulder some of the brunt of cuts.”
Former mayors are entitled to wear their medallions when attending civic functions.
Last year’s mayor Coun Linda Burgess has not yet received her medallion and its manufacture was postponed pending the decision on whether or not to change to a silver design.
She did not have a consort, and that is why the new contract is for two mayor’s medallions and one Mayoress - for Coun Burgess and current mayor Coun Jeff Ennis and Mayoress Margaret Ennis.
The figures came to light in a delegated officers’ decisions report. The medallions have been made by the same firm, McAvoy and Beardsmore Jewellers and Goldsmiths, of Sheffield, for many years.
The report sought permission to waive the usual requirement to obtain at least three separate quotations for the work, stating “this is justified on the basis that the medallions are of a specialist design created by this supplier, who has supplied these medallions probably since the creation of the metropolitan borough council in 1974.
“Seeking a different supplier would result in a different design for the medallions and also in additional costs as a result of the need to create a design and associated dies etc. This would not be acceptable to members.
“It is also unlikely that supply could be secured in time for Annual Council in 2018, given the lead-in times required by a new supplier.”
However a jeweller contacted by the Chronicle said it was not complicated work and could easily have been done more cheaply and in time for the meeting in May.
“It’s very disappointing this work has not been offered to local jewellers.”
Coun Alan Gardiner, a spokesman for the council’s ruling cabinet, said: “The mayoral medallion is a bespoke design and McAvoy and Beardsmore have the distinctive cast and dies needed to produce the goods.
“They are a specialist local supplier who have reliably created the medallions for many years. We have only specified the use of cheaper materials and have therefore chosen not to tender the contract.”
