Time to make voices heard

Dear Editor I was appalled to read in the Reformer the claim that“too many full council meetings are merely a ‘formality’with no meaningful discussion taking place”. This was news to me.

I also see that Councillor Margaret Walker has again written on the same issue and calls for a guarantee that every councillor has a meaningful say on the annual budget.

All involved are to be commended in bringing this matter to public attention.

John Ross, the council leader, responds to these important concerns by calling them“sour grapes”and accuses fellow councillors from three other parties of“bleating”and having been“kicked into opposition”.

This is disrespectful and aggressive language, not the language of leadership.

Every councillor has collective responsibility for every decision taken by the council and committees can only make recommendations which the full council can either accept, reject or send back for reconsideration and amendment.

It is not just their voices who need to be heard. It is our voices. If I was a councillor I would not allow myself to be silenced. I would keep on talking until I was sure I was being heard.

By stating“there is little public interest in the council, no awareness of the different views of the political parties”, Liberal councillor Robert Brown does the public a disservice. People are extremely interested in what is going on in their local area and how the council’s decisions affect them.

We want our elected representatives to just get on with the job and I trust that is what most of them want to do. A very large dose of humility is needed here, starting with the man at the top.

All councillors would do well to remember that it is the public who put them there and can easily remove them. Dorothy Connor Rutherglen