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The glorious bedlam of October 27th had two grand conclusions, one of which can wait for later posts. The other was that the town unilaterally rejected Councillor Ringroad's plan, to the extent that the treasurer, DS, vowed to table a motion to dismiss it out of hand, properly, formally, for good, in the next meeting, e.g last night. This was cheered by the room. However.
During the inglorious horror of the meeting prior to that, the chairman had disgraced himself with some pretty colourful behaviour and after a multitude of letters from the horrified public to West Lothian Council, resigned, leaving the vice-chair to become acting chair. That acting chair is Councillor Ringroad's wife.
Councillor Ringroad's wife was quiet on the 27th except to say when asked about conflicts of interest that she 'didn't understand the question.' But she was gathering strength when she presented the agenda for last night's meeting. To the astonishment of all, the treasurer's motion to dismiss the ring road plan was entirely absent.
She sat herself down, casting only the mildest scowls of resentment at the watching public. Then she read out a piece from the chief solicitor outlining her powers as chair. These apparently made her all powerful and free from debate/question*. Then she explained that she had struck the treasurer's motion from the agenda as it had not been debated by the Community Council and this made it 'incompetent business.' The crowd gasped; effectively her decision kept that blasted ringroad proposal thoroughly alive. Then she told us that though she was Councillor Ringroad's wife she saw no conflict of interests in her position, but as a gesture of goodwill would recuse herself for this meeting, and stepped down as chair.
I think this was meant to throw the Council into disarray, as she clearly hadn't warned her colleagues. But these chickens were not quite headless; another chair was sorted quickly, a benign chap of intelligence and affability. Besides, if she was channelling Lady MacBeth, the treasurer across from her had clearly been possessed by Foghorn Leghorn, mischievous despite his grey haired gravitas, and far too thick-skinned to notice her looks of basilisk loathing. He tabled the motion irrespective, dismissing her argument by saying there had been at least one and a half discussions of the ringroad plan prior to the meeting, the motion had been seconded and all that remained was to vote. The new chair agreed. But first they had to go over the minutes from two acrimonious meetings, at which point the pecking party started.MH, a local landowner who is erudite and intelligent with a certain style that makes me want to cast him as Doc Holliday, went for the treasurer regarding his unhelpful suggestion that
'MH can just be ignored.'
'Fine advice in general,' muttered Foghorn in one of those sotto voce moments audible to everyone.
'What did you say?' The asperity sparked in Doc Holliday's eyes.
Things were just warming up. A council member who had taken it upon himself to call the population of the town 'muppets and moaners' faced gentle remonstration about these remarks and by way of reply, spontaneously combusted.
'I won't let you twist my words!' He screamed, his face red with anger, jabbing his finger accusingly and snarling in a way that always invokes significant looks among people close by, vibes that vary from someone's got a problem to ooh you'd not marry that would you?
'Watch your temper!' Came an unknown voice from the public.
He heard, and subsided into smouldering mortification, shoulders curved in on himself.This is another one who, like Mrs Ringroad, was once a teacher. Honestly I wonder if that profession just drives people mad.
Then it was time for the vote for or against Foghorn's motion to reject the ringroad motion out of hand. It might be the only time he and Doc Holliday ever agree on anything.The motion was carried 8-2 with a few abstentions. The ring road plan has been rejected.
And there was much rejoicing!
But I do not quite believe it. I respect Councillor Ringroad's good sense too much to believe he has faced all this opprobrium, potential ruin of political hopes, the town's anger, countless hints of corruption, the laughter/contempt of his fellow councillors and total humiliation in front of our Member of Scottish Parliament - a member of his party - for a hated unnecessary road. Why would a sensible man do that? What /how much would it take to make this a viable course of action for anybody? Helluva pile of brown envelopes to make this worth while.
And the same answer returns to my mind; for the same reason he went for it in the first place, he will not give it up now, especially with an added element of sunk cost.
It's dead today, crushed in this form, but I reckon it rises tomorrow.
*Exaggerating, but not as much as you might think.
During the inglorious horror of the meeting prior to that, the chairman had disgraced himself with some pretty colourful behaviour and after a multitude of letters from the horrified public to West Lothian Council, resigned, leaving the vice-chair to become acting chair. That acting chair is Councillor Ringroad's wife.
Councillor Ringroad's wife was quiet on the 27th except to say when asked about conflicts of interest that she 'didn't understand the question.' But she was gathering strength when she presented the agenda for last night's meeting. To the astonishment of all, the treasurer's motion to dismiss the ring road plan was entirely absent.
She sat herself down, casting only the mildest scowls of resentment at the watching public. Then she read out a piece from the chief solicitor outlining her powers as chair. These apparently made her all powerful and free from debate/question*. Then she explained that she had struck the treasurer's motion from the agenda as it had not been debated by the Community Council and this made it 'incompetent business.' The crowd gasped; effectively her decision kept that blasted ringroad proposal thoroughly alive. Then she told us that though she was Councillor Ringroad's wife she saw no conflict of interests in her position, but as a gesture of goodwill would recuse herself for this meeting, and stepped down as chair.
I think this was meant to throw the Council into disarray, as she clearly hadn't warned her colleagues. But these chickens were not quite headless; another chair was sorted quickly, a benign chap of intelligence and affability. Besides, if she was channelling Lady MacBeth, the treasurer across from her had clearly been possessed by Foghorn Leghorn, mischievous despite his grey haired gravitas, and far too thick-skinned to notice her looks of basilisk loathing. He tabled the motion irrespective, dismissing her argument by saying there had been at least one and a half discussions of the ringroad plan prior to the meeting, the motion had been seconded and all that remained was to vote. The new chair agreed. But first they had to go over the minutes from two acrimonious meetings, at which point the pecking party started.MH, a local landowner who is erudite and intelligent with a certain style that makes me want to cast him as Doc Holliday, went for the treasurer regarding his unhelpful suggestion that
'MH can just be ignored.'
'Fine advice in general,' muttered Foghorn in one of those sotto voce moments audible to everyone.
'What did you say?' The asperity sparked in Doc Holliday's eyes.
Things were just warming up. A council member who had taken it upon himself to call the population of the town 'muppets and moaners' faced gentle remonstration about these remarks and by way of reply, spontaneously combusted.
'I won't let you twist my words!' He screamed, his face red with anger, jabbing his finger accusingly and snarling in a way that always invokes significant looks among people close by, vibes that vary from someone's got a problem to ooh you'd not marry that would you?
'Watch your temper!' Came an unknown voice from the public.
He heard, and subsided into smouldering mortification, shoulders curved in on himself.This is another one who, like Mrs Ringroad, was once a teacher. Honestly I wonder if that profession just drives people mad.
Then it was time for the vote for or against Foghorn's motion to reject the ringroad motion out of hand. It might be the only time he and Doc Holliday ever agree on anything.The motion was carried 8-2 with a few abstentions. The ring road plan has been rejected.
And there was much rejoicing!
But I do not quite believe it. I respect Councillor Ringroad's good sense too much to believe he has faced all this opprobrium, potential ruin of political hopes, the town's anger, countless hints of corruption, the laughter/contempt of his fellow councillors and total humiliation in front of our Member of Scottish Parliament - a member of his party - for a hated unnecessary road. Why would a sensible man do that? What /how much would it take to make this a viable course of action for anybody? Helluva pile of brown envelopes to make this worth while.
And the same answer returns to my mind; for the same reason he went for it in the first place, he will not give it up now, especially with an added element of sunk cost.
It's dead today, crushed in this form, but I reckon it rises tomorrow.
*Exaggerating, but not as much as you might think.
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