Laughing stock (Sue Wailoo)
What a joke – another SIC one. A secret meeting of our councillors decides to buy a (relatively) expensive residential property, not to house any of the thousand plus people on the housing waiting list. Oh no, it’s for visiting consultants. What next? Catering and cleaning staff, TV, maid and other services? The SIC Hotel in effect and not for the likes of you and me but the already overpaid chosen ones. How these consultancy people must be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of even more contracts from our council!
It would be interesting to know just how many empty, deteriorating properties belonging to the council there are already and also how many vacant offices there will be once that North Ness edifice is complete.
And then there is the distraction from the issue by the chairman of this now not so secret meeting being offended by a rather silly ironic gesture against his dictatorial stifling of any debate on the matter. No wonder more and more of the councillors’ meetings are held in secret because what is going on is almost beyond belief. You couldn’t make it up. If not so serious in this era of threatened public service cutbacks it truly would be laughable. SIC transit democracy.
Why do our councillors rely on and defer to consultants so much? They were happy to throw millions at consultancy for an as-yet non-existent replacement high school, to give just one example of their wasteful profligacy. But then they haven’t even acted on the advice they sought at our expense about the overdue reform of the charitable trust.
If councillors have no vision of their own and don’t know what needs to be done they should get out and make way for people who do. Roll on next year’s council elections. It will be brave people indeed, however, who can put themselves forward after this lot has reduced the council to such a pathetic, laughing stock.
Sue Wailoo
Setter,
Burra.
Kathy Greaves
It is worrying that this meeting was held in secret and that details were only released to the media because of the vice-convenor’s objection to being called a dictator. How many other meetings have been held in secret and not reported upon. What else have ‘they’ signed us up to without our knowledge?
This house for consultants. It will have to be decorated and furnished, maintained, cleaned, staff paid, and council tax added on,and so on. What will be the real cost in total to Shetland? Consultants generally charge their clients for their services plus expenses. Will the council remember not to pay their consultants for hotel expenses or will they pay those too?
Kathy Greaves
Lerwick
Neil Cummins
Well said, I find it unbelievable that Council business, petty personal squabbles and generally dirty washing are being aired so publicly in a seemingly never ending stream in the letters and comments pages of local newspapers. It’s pathetic!
Sandy McMillan
you are spot on Kathy, we, that is the residents of Shetland will have to pay for it all, when it comes to meetings of the council, the public are kept in the dark, this maybe the Leader of the the Counils way of doing it, but it is far from DEMOCRATIC, Josie Simpsom will need to think again on the rights and wrongs of running the Council, He has become a proper Dictator since taken on his position, Start afresh Josie and remember the word DEMOCRATIC
Sandy McMillan
Ian Tinkler
Perhaps Jonathan Wills found a good way to expose are own home bred fascists. Next time how about two fingers. Sure Les will not get so steamed up about that..
Ann Thomson
Well said – my thoughts exactly.
Colin HUnter
I remember, some time ago, Josie Simpson saying something on the radio which, at the time, I thought was odd to say the least. He compared the Council to a Fishing Boat, and said that, like on board a boat, you had the Skipper and the crew, and the crew had to do as they were told by the Skipper, or words to that effect. Seeme he’s trying to carry that through now he’s the SIC “Political Leader”. Whatever happened to democracy?
Peter Dodge
Shades of the cabals of the 90s all over again. Will the redd oots follow suit?
Digits only from now on Dr. Wills but please keep us informed; for the sake of democracy.