Councillor Fiona Howard
‘ARGYLL AND BUTE NEEDS TRANSPARENCY AND DEMOCRACY’
I AM sure everyone is aware by now that a special meeting of Argyll and Bute Council has been called for April 4 with a view to replacing the existing administration with a more transparent, collegiate and democratic one.
The 15 councillors who instigated the move, including myself, are not enough to carry the day on their own, and an invitation has been extended to any of the other councillors to come forward and vote for change. But in the end it is a numbers game, and it could even come down to the cut of a deck of cards.
In the meantime, we have a date of April 15 for another special council meeting, when we will be asked to decide whether to accept the current administration’s much-vaunted climbdown on their disgraceful 10 per cent rise in council tax.
Having learned about the negotiations with Scottish Government starting by means of a press release, I had very little faith that those not involved would be given much in the way of information on which to base our subsequent vote. What the final deal was, for instance, or what promises had to be made to secure it.
I took this up with officers but was told: “The special council meeting on April 15 will relate to the level of council tax in Argyll and Bute for 2024/25, and the expectation is that all members will, at that meeting, be provided with the necessary and relevant information to allow them to take an informed decision(s).”
This was followed by a rather patronising: “Picking up on your general point about information being available to members then I am sorry to say that you are mistaken in your understanding of the position.
“To be entirely clear, any decision to change (by which I mean reduce) the council tax in Argyll and Bute for the coming year will be taken at the special meeting by full council.
“I’d like to conclude this email with a suggestion that it might be helpful, and positive, to have a conversation about the nature of the council and how council business is taken forward.
“There is some clarification that, perhaps, myself and/or the head of legal and regulatory support could provide about, for example, the role of the leader of the council. Let me know if you would like to take that up and my office will make the necessary arrangements.”
It was not reassuring. So, dear reader, I persisted.
And I have now been assured that: “There will be a report available for issue with the summons calling the special council meeting, and this should be in your hands seven clear days in advance of the actual meeting.
“Hopefully, that should allow you some time to look at the report and, if you want any clarification/further information, pursue that with officers.”
I am also assured that, having received the papers, and if I feel it would be helpful, they will be happy to arrange a session for me with the chief financial officer or one of her suitably qualified colleagues.
Such are the joys of being a councillor in Argyll and Bute.