DURING the last few weeks, it has been heartening to see petty, political game-playing being put to one side by MSPs of all political persuasions, as they work together to deal with the current crisis.
Residents of Angus may also have expected their councillors to work together in the same spirit of unity – alas, it appears that this is not the case!
On Friday, the whole council met (remotely) to agree the way forward during the crisis. One of the items of business was to put in place a more manageable Special Arrangements Committee to deal with issues in place of full council, which normally consists of 28 councillors.
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The Special Committee would be made up of seven members. To maintain political balance, four were to be taken from the administration and three from outwith. Not satisfied with this, however, members of the administration (with the notable exception of Cllr Speed) nominated and voted for Cllr Richard Moore as the “non-aligned” member of the group, effectively changing the balance of the group to 5/2, a move contrary to the spirit of the proposals.
In case anyone is unaware of the history, Cllr Moore was a member of the administration from his election in 2017, only becoming non-aligned after the Standards Commission found him guilty of inappropriate behaviour and suspended him for three months! Although the suspension is over, residents of Angus may be perturbed that the council leader felt it appropriate to award this position of power to him during the current crisis, in favour of a truly independent member.
Not only that, his appointment means the Special Committee has three members from Arbroath, yet none from the entire South Angus Locality, consisting of Carnoustie, Monifieth and Sidlaw! Equally worrying was the decision to put the same five members on the Special Children and Learning Committee – despite two of them not even being part of the full committee!
Local democracy? Unfortunately not in Angus!
Cllr Beth Whiteside (Monifieth & Sidlaw Ward)
Piperdam, Angus
IN times of national emergency, the public expect their elected representatives to pull together for the benefit of all, laying petty politics aside. As an elected member of Angus Council, I endeavour to do just that.I do, though have an obligation to call out foul play where I see it. This is necessary if we are to maintain any vestige of democracy.
At the Angus Council meeting on Friday April 3, the decision was taken to transfer all the decision-making powers of Angus councillors into the hands of a small number of councillors.This was done to speed up decision-making during the coronavirus emergency. I understand and agree that this is necessary at this time. However, the appointments to the newly formed Special Arrangements Committee and Special Education Committee were made in a less than democratic fashion, which I find deeply concerning.
The Angus Council administration chose to nominate Cllr Moore to the Special Education Committee. I considered him a wholly inappropriate person to sit on the Special Education Committee, due to recent well publicised failings in his behaviour around women, and tried to nominate current Deputy Convenor of Children and Learning Cllr Speed. The Provost of Angus, Cllr Proctor, chose not to allow any further nominations to be made and so Cllr Moore was appointed without a vote taking place.
I consider this an affront to democracy. It also means the Angus Council administration group have no female representative on either of the all-powerful committees now running Angus Council. Instead,they chose Cllr Moore.
Cllr Kenny Braes (Brechin, Edzell and District)
West Ballochy, Montrose
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