West Dunbartonshire residents are being encouraged to highlight employees who embody the Council’s ACHIEVE values
NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
Haud me back. Excuse me while I laugh. Well, the headline above would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. West Dunbartonshire Council have just underscored the fact that they are indeed a basket case local authority.
As if they haven’t enough so-called meaningless awards dotted around their £16 million office in Church Street, they are about to squander more of the area’s allegedly scarce council tax money on launching another one, a complete and utter waste of time and money that will do nothing to improve our lives here.
They are at the moment busy polishing the Golden Dustbin Award for their allegedly brilliant bin collection service which currently receives thousands of written complaints a year from residents who abuse the Council for their failure collect bins when they promised.
We know this because the Council publish this in the Complaints column which members of the public phone and aare told to telephone someone else. How daft – and annoying for people who are already annoyed – is that?
And now they are charging householders for collecting brown bins which they will most probably miss as often as they did before the new charges were brought in.
The £16 million refurbishment of the old Burgh Hall for council offices was because the then SNP administered council couldn’t get all their suits and skirts into the offices they already had allocated to them.
And it must have been difficult to get some of the councillors’ heads through the main front door to serve themselves tea and coffee and cakes in comfortable surroundings to which they were never accustomed.
There are no arrangements to give the public as much as a drink of water.
The spurious reasons given for the council splashing our hard-earned £millions on new offices was that it would increase footfall – business – in the High Street and Town Centre.
Well, it didn’t, did it? They reduced it. Take a look around Dumbarton and the Vale at all the empty office space, vacated by the council and the To Let signs attached to them.
Visionaries, our councillors are not. Not at all. Not even a wee bit. The message on the posters should be changed from To Let to Too Late. Poor old Dumbarton is falling down under their stewardship.
The Council’s expensive corps of spin doctors tell us in a press release – they do not of course deign to speak to The Democrat – that they are looking for us – that’s me and you – to nominate the council officials we would like to see winning this new award.
The inscription on this bauble should include something akin to Parkinson’s Law – Work Expands to match the Time Allocated to It.
The press release states: “Employees nominated will be put forward for an award as part of a recognition event being held next year.
“The event will be based around the Council’s ACHIEVE Framework which outlines the behaviours expected of all employees at West Dunbartonshire Council.
“The values are Ambition, Collaboration, Honesty, Innovation, Ethical, Valuing and Empowering.,
“Employees can be nominated in one of seven categories, including Trailblazer, Teamwork Excellence, Ethical, Innovative Solutions, Empowerment Champion and Community Appreciation.
“Nominees who are shortlisted will be invited to an afternoon in Clydebank Town Hall with Chief Executive Peter Hessett.”
Lucky them. Perhaps Peter, who is a big music fan, will arrange for a DJ or maybe even a band for the occasion?
Are they joking? I’m beginning to wonder if they are so out of touch with reality that they got Hallowe’en mixed up with April Fool’s Day.
We are told that Peter Hessett, Chief Executive of West Dunbartonshire Council, pictured left, said: “Our employees provide a fantastic service every day, making a positive impact on the lives of our residents and it is only right that they are recognised for their efforts.
“I would urge residents who have been impressed with the service they have had to nominate those individuals, not only for recognition but a lasting reminder of the excellent work and care they have provided.”
I think we should tell Peter to behave himself or to go an jump in that fast flowing river behind him in the picture above.
To make a nomination visit www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/achieveawards and fill in the online form. Nominations close 26th January 2025.
Now, have you got that? Donald Trump will be President of the US by that time and embarked on inflicting his own brand of madness on the world.
West Dunbartonshire Council should be told that President elect Trump doesn’t need their help to make a clown of himself, despite the fact that they are so accomplished and experienced in the circus business.
How brass-necked and remote from the council tax paying public are West Dunbartonshire Council for spending time and money on useless ventures such as the one publicised in this advertisement.
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Another one bites the dust. The Lady C Boutique on Dumbarton High Street has closed its doors for the last time.
The owner, Catherine Walsh, is quoted on the Reporter website, as saying: “The overhead costs are just too expensive, everything’s increased and I’m no longer getting full-rates relief which I was getting when I started out. The small business rates relief being gone is having an impact on small businesses.
“We are dependent on people coming through the doors, and the cost of living is having an impact.”
Catherine says she no longer receives the small business relief rate which is provided to properties with a rateable value less than £15,000.
She says Lady C was the only independent clothes shop on the High Street, but now it’s gone. It closed its doors for the final time on November 5.
Catherine said that for small independent businesses to survive in the High Street now it’s a real, real struggle — “Given the downturn in footfall on the High Street, it’s just no longer financially viable.”
That’s a pity. Maybe the Council should have helped Catherine out by giving her a discount on the rates she found impossible to pay. Perhaps they could do that for other small businesses who find themselves in a similar position? Now that’s worthwhile public relations.
Or they could have offered Catherine the services of their PR Department, the spin doctors they use to promote with useless guff, ventures such as the one referred to in the opening article in this column.
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I see Balloch Library is on the property market as a site for housing. The people protesting at the Council meeting which decided that the key would be going in the door of the library for good told me that would happen. I’m not surprised. My experience of covering local government goes back more than 60 years to the middle of last century. I have never known in all that time a group of public representatives to be so out of touch with the people who elected them.