Council trio hit out at closed-door meetings
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Independents Donnie Mackay, Willie Mackay and John Rosie are calling for a change in policy which would allow people to attend joint Caithness ward business meetings.
Their views come after the Caithness Courier was denied the opportunity to report on the latest of the fortnightly meetings in Wick Town Hall on Monday morning.
North of Scotland Newspapers editor Iain Grant was barred from attending after the council’s Caithness ward manager David Sutherland said it was against the local authority’s agreed policy.
Mr Sutherland was loath to discuss the issue which was broached immediately before the meeting. While councillors were welcome to talk about issues outside the meeting, he said the forums have to be held in camera.
He said: “I do not wish to enter into a debate. The current position has been made quite clear at full council and these meetings are to remain in private.
“Members are entitled to meet with the press after the business meeting but it has been decided that these meetings are closed to the public.”
Thurso councillor Donnie Mackay said it is wrong to exclude press and the public, saying that the matters they are discussing affect the public, who should have a right to attend.
“Councillors should not be behind closed doors for any business – we were elected by the people to be open and precise with everything we do,” he said. “When we are behind closed doors, we’re not being open and precise.
“I have always said these meetings should be open to the public. They should be transparent for everyone as we have been behind closed doors for far too long.”
Caithness civic head Gail Ross, who chairs the meetings, argued the need to keep certain matters confidential.
“It was made quite clear some time ago why these meetings were held in private. This was also explained at community council meetings,” she said.
“During our meetings we discuss issues that include constituents’ problems, which are not appropriate to bring up in the public domain.”
The council recently starting issuing minutes of the meetings with issues deemed confidential omitted or redacted.
In 2009, landward Caithness councillor David Bremner tabled a proposal to the full council to end the ban on public attendance at ward meetings but was defeated by 52 votes to five, with 16 abstentions.
Despite now calling for the public ban to end, Willie Mackay and John Rosie were in favour of keeping the ward meetings private three years ago, with Donnie Mackay choosing to abstain.
Willie Mackay now describes the protocol an “embarrassment” and said members who think it a good idea to keep the public out of meetings are wrong.
“It’s not good enough in this day and age. If there are items that they want to remain confidential then they should not be put on the agenda,” he said.
“We’re supposed to be open and transparent 24 hours a day.
“Nothing on the agenda merited being confidential but some members think that applications on ward discretionary budgets should be confined to closed doors.
“We see the results of debates at ward business meetings when the public get to see where all the money has gone. There is no point trying to hide it at a ward business meeting.
“We want change – we will have to look at this and get the policy changed because it looks bad.”
Thurso councillor Roger Saxon said councillors are keen to make their meetings as transparent as possible to the public, but maintained there is a need to keep some matters confidential.
“It is clear that these meetings are not being held to make council decisions and we are not sitting here as ward councillors,” he said.
“As much as I would like to see meetings being made public, we have agreed to hand out the minutes of these meetings to the press.”
Landward councillor Alex Macleod shared concerns about the transparency of councillors’ informal meetings with ward managers, but agreed some matters were inappropriate for public knowledge.
“During the course of these meetings, we discuss a number of issues and cases which are confidential,” he said.
“It would not be fair to the local residents and groups involved to have these discussions in public and so it is appropriate that these are heard in private.
“Having said that, I realise that there are also a number of items which are discussed at these informal meetings which could be discussed in public.
“That is why the SNP-led administration has set up local area committees, bringing local government closer to home.
“I have raised these issues at the highest level of the council and will work with my colleagues to come to a solution.
“Where an item can be heard in public, it will be heard in public.”
