Councillor taken to task for no-show
A CAITHNESS Highland Councillor has been criticised again for his absence at meetings of Castletown and District Community Council.
Chairwoman Brenda Herrick described the reason for Landward Caithness councillor Alex MacLeod’s non-attendance at Thursday night’s meeting as "extremely disappointing".
Mrs Herrick hit out after the councillor sent an e-mail to offer his apologies. He said he would not be able to be present as he had "to attend to some council business in Inverness".
An unimpressed Mrs Herrick had replied to him: "I have to say I find this response extremely disappointing, especially as you have not attended a single community council meeting since your election. I realise that the centralisation of so much in Inverness these days does not make life easy for councillors but, surely, your priority should sometimes be Caithness which you were elected to represent."
"The only meeting I can see scheduled on the council website is one that does not involve you so I cannot help wondering what is more important than tonight’s meeting.
"As you know, unless there are unusual circumstances, we meet on the last Thursday of every month so I hope we can look forward to seeing you next month," added Mrs Herrick who felt part of the problem is the councillor does not live in his constituency.
Colleague Alan Wilcock was also unhappy with the response and pointed out that other landward councillors managed to be present at local authority meetings in Inverness and come to the community council in the evening.
Members have raised Mr MacLeod’s non-appearance before and have taken the issue up with Highland Council chief executive Alistair Dodds.
Secretary Liz Geddes, told Thursday night’s meeting a reply had been received but Mr Dodds had provided a copy of the letter to the councillor and said it was a matter which should be dealt with by the elected representative.
Community councillors claimed Mr MacLeod’s absence is compounded by the non-appearance of locally-based council officials.
"They used to come to our meetings but haven’t done so for some time," added Mrs Herrick.
Mr MacLeod said if members wish to raise any issue with him they can do so by contacting him on his mobile phone or by e-mail.
He also asked the community council for any feedback on the future of local area committees as the subject is due to be discussed at a full meeting of Highland Council tomorrow.
In November last year, the community council, criticised Mr MacLeod for his failure to attend their meetings.
He apologised and said his non-attendance was due to "personal circumstances". At that time, Mrs Herrick felt the issue had to be addressed and wondered if one of the other Landward Caithness councillors could come in Mr MacLeod’s place.
He also has been criticised by Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council for not attending its meetings.
Mr MacLeod could not be contacted for a response.
