by Bill Heaney
However, Cllr Rooney is frequently criticised by the electorate in the Lomond Ward in Alexandria for having nothing to say about issues they consider to be matters of great importance.
The Council’s own online Complaints Column often attracts more than 100 e mails a week, many of which are not answered.
Cllr Rooney refuses to speak to The Dumbarton Democrat, a locally owned 21st century news platform, which has the highest readership in the area, to bring controversial issues into the public domain.
He has now told BBC Scotland the only options available for the council to raise money are increasing council tax, increasing sales fees and taxes, using reserves, management adjustment and savings.
In West Dunbartonshire, the Labour budget was approved over the SNP option, which had called for a 10.4% rise in council tax.
Two Labour councillors resigned in the wake of this and have not been seen or heard from since.
The approved budget will implement more than £1.4m in savings options and further management adjustments of £705,000 on top of the council tax rise.
What management adjustments are, the Council has never made clear.
It communications officers refuse to communicate with The Democrat to explain not just that but what so many different figures have been given for the “budget gap” which is said to have ranged from £14 million to £6 million.
That anti-democratic situation has been ongoing for the past FIVE YEARS.
Everyone knows Councillor Rooney only opens his mouth to defend the indefensible or speak about matters important to himself.
Cllr Rooney said working together was the only way to stop the council going bankrupt, but he has had so many people blocked from communicating with him on his social media site that he is frequently accused of “coming out from under the bed”.
“The council will go bankrupt in the next administration and I am talking about 2027 to 2032,” he said.
“That administration will not survive in the way that we do politics in West Dunbartonshire – throwing bricks at each other and trying to outdo each other or whatever it might be.
“People talk about cross-party working, maybe they want to start engaging with it rather than just saying it.”
Perhaps Cllr Rooney should take a leaf out of his own political journal. Or maybe he too should just resign.
Recently he and his Labour colleagues refused to get out of their seat to say anything at all on “hot potato” issues such as the redesign and restructure of the Council Carer Service.
Meanwhile, while he sat in his seat staring into space, a batch of flag waving carers demonstrating outside the council offices in Church Street had been joined by an angry, banner waving group of teacher members of the EIS who intimated they too would be taking industrial action.
Cllr Rooney told BBC Scotland that discussion of the financial difficulties could result in better solutions being found by the Council, but he hasn’t made any public suggestions as to how this might happen.
In order for this to come about, he will have to find a way of settling matters between the council, which has a reputation for victimisation and bullying, and has had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for that, and a host of disgruntled employees, who range from carers to school teachers.
Meanwhile, parents and teachers are unhappy about the education their children are receiving and the relatives of elderly, disabled and vulnerable people are raging at what has happened to the Carers’ Service.
Head in the sand councillors and officials on this council continue to refuse to comment to The Dumbarton Democrat, which takes great pride in its journalistic role of speaking truth to power.
West Dunbartonshire Council should set the budget cuts ball rolling and allow democracy and free speech back into Dumbarton which has been abused, neglected and mismanaged for far too long.