Ardgay and District Community Council dissolved by unanimous agreement at public meeting
A packed public meeting has decided to dissolve a Sutherland community council – sparked by a member said to have behaved like a “football fan”.
Around 150 people voted unanimously in favour of the move last night (Thursday, May 22) after which people queued immediately to petition for Ardgay and District Community Council to be reformed!
However, council member Samantha Kane, the transgender owner of Carbisdale Castle, now says she will petition the Outer House of the Court of Session in Edinburgh to get the vote and meeting declared “unlawful”.
Ms Kane had offered to resign in order to avoid “the damage they are causing me and the community” but claimed her resignation was not accepted.
Crucially the offer to quit was linked to last night’s meeting not going ahead.
The community council was reformed in October following the election of seven new members.
It had been dissolved by Highland Council in February last year after four of its five members had resigned.
The area’s newly elected community councillors then joined Ms Kane, an existing member, to form a new community council of eight.
However, at the body’s monthly meeting on April 17, a motion to dissolve the council was passed. This had to be considered at last night’s public meeting.
It is now hoped to reform the council without Ms Kane, possibly in the autumn.
Ms Kane said today: “The meeting was pre-determined with the sole purpose of getting me out, which is discriminatory and undemocratic.
“I am petitioning the Outer House of the Court of Session to declare both the meeting which decided to put the motion, and the public meeting last night, unlawful.
“It was predetermined by bias against me based on malice, hatred and discrimination. My human rights have also been infringed by being deprived of representing the area as a councillor. I was not even allowed to put my case to the public meeting.”
She claimed that a lot of the “so-called public” were not from the area and thus not eligible to vote. I believe that only 30 of those present were eligible to vote – out of a population of 800.”
Last month’s dissolution motion had been proposed by vice-chairman Robert Sawyer and seconded by chairman Les Waugh with all of the councillors present except Ms Kane in favour.
Mr Waugh said the community council had received written and verbal complaints about Ms Kane’s behaviour at meetings.
“I don’t shout like a football fan and stamp my feet,” he told her at the last council meeting.
He previously said: “Her behaviour at community council meetings has been appalling. She sometimes behaves like a six year old child who has been scolded, shouting at people, stamping her feet and banging her walking stick on the floor like a football hooligan.
“All we ever hear about is Samantha Kane and Carbisdale Castle and the community benefit from it is nil.
“She also bangs on about the Highlands not being ready for transgenders - that is b******. We have several transgender people in our community and several gay couples. Sexuality is nothing. We like nice people and she has not been very pleasant.”
Mr Waugh said that the community council was otherwise “well put together with some superb brains”.
Mass resignations last year meant that the community council no longer had a quorum, leading to its collapse and a Highland Council decision to suspend its activities.
Then vice-chairperson Ms Kane was the only community councillor not to have resigned and as a result kept her seat on the new council. Dissolution now means a new council has to be elected.
