Published 17th August 2015

IT is being claimed that an invite to all twenty councillors at East Renfrewshire Council never arrived in their mail.

The invite was from the representatives of all ten community councils in East Renfrewshire requesting councillors attend their meeting to discuss the new CC scheme.

The email is reproduced in the next post and the following one highlights how this allegation came to light.

From: joint cc [mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]

Sent: 11 August 2015 00:16

To: 'J (Cllr) Fletcher' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Alastair (Cllr) Carmichael' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Tony Buchanan' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Gordon (Cllr) McCaskill' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'M (Cllr) Montague' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'A (Cllr) Lafferty' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'B (Cllr) Cunningham' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Ian (Cllr) McAlpine' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Elaine (Cllr) Green' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Vincent Waters' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Kenny (Cllr) Hay' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 'Jim Swift' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Gordon Wallace (Cllr.' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Stewart Miller' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'B (Cllr) Grant' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; paul.o' This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 'C (Cllr) Gilbert' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'Ralph (Cllr) Robertson' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >; 'D (Cllr) Devlin' < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >

Subject: URGENT

Dear Councillor

A majority of ERC's Administration Councillors voted through a Scheme of Establishment for East Ren CCs on the 24th June at a special meeting. We believe we can now show this amended scheme to be unlawful in its interpretation and implementation of the Acts and Model Schemes.

Tomorrow night (Tuesday 11th), all ten Community Councils with as many Community Councillors as possible, are coming together to discuss this matter in front of the press. Invitees include our MP, MSPs and both the Minister with responsibility and First Minister, along with Lorraine McMillan, Chief Executive, Jim Sneddon, Head of Democratic Services and Tracy Butler, Head of Community Planning. We sincerely hope the last three attend in person to ensure this new scheme gets a fair and balanced hearing.

The meeting is to be held on Tuesday the 11th August 2015 at 7.30pm at Albertslund Hall, 1 Westacres Road, Newton Mearns , G77 6WW.

We understand this is short notice but we are now extending this invitation to all twenty elected members.

It is starting to look like those who voted for the Scheme, were perhaps more motivated by the removal of the independence of Community Councils than in giving this Scheme as offered by your officers, the proper scrutiny it deserved and required.

If you are unable to attend, given the short notice we will understand , but if you would like a briefing note on where your officers have, we believe, gone so catastrophically wrong in their application of the Acts and Model Schemes, please reply to this email simply saying "copy of the briefing notes please."

Regards

East Renfrewshire Community Council Members

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent to all Thornliebank Community Councillors.

b_2015-08-16.jpg

Cllr Waters

From: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To: kenndarroch; lynnearnott; wisner; danmcphail; williamkenny; helenashanks; yvonnehamilton

Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2015 23:35:28 +0100

Subject: CC Meeting

Friends

I've been asked why I didn't accept an invitation to a meeting of CCs in the last week.

I understand it's being claimed all Councillors were invited. I wanted to make sure you were aware I received no such invitation. I believe no Cllr did, though someone seems to be putting that story about.

If anyone has an issue to do with CCs they want to speak about please let me know.

Regards,

Councillor Vincent Waters

SNP Giffnock & Thornliebank Ward

07783 88 71 70

@WatersSNP

Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2

**********************************************************************

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are not necessarily the view of East Renfrewshire Council. It is intended only for the person or entity named above. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the author by replying to this e-mail and then erasing the e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, review, dissemination, distribution or copying of the e-mail is strictly prohibited.

Please be advised that East Renfrewshire Council's incoming and outgoing e-mail is subject to regular monitoring

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEWSLINE has contacted two other elected members who have stated that they did not receive the email invite either.

It is known that the chief executive Lorraine McMillan stated in the past that ERC would not recognise the East Renfrewshire Joint Community Council Forum. (ERJCCF)

The question has to be asked, why apparently did none of the elected members receive this invite.

Are all communications to elected members intercepted and monitored by council staff?.

Did Lorraine McMillan instruct that this invite was to be withheld from the elected members of East Renfrewshire ?.

NEWSLINE has been made aware that the intercepting and blocking of emails was identified previously. The chair of NMCC alerted us to this email chain.

WE would have to ask the question, is this democracy at work.

Surely even the administration councillors should be outraged that their correspondence is allegedly being intercepted, screened and rejected without their knowledge.

Is this further evidence that ERC is a rogue council under the leadership, or as some commentators may say, dictatorship, of the £116,389 a year Chief Executive Lorraine McMillan.

Is it time for her to go?