Complaint thrown out

A COMPLAINT against Moffat and District Community Council (MDCC) was put to bed on Tuesday night, with no further action to be taken.

It was submitted by a member of the public earlier this year, citing concerns regarding the community council’s ‘integrity of financial practices; transparency in governance; violation of the freedom of speech vital to ensure public accountability’, as well as naming two current office bearers: chair Liam O’Neill and treasurer David Booth.

Following a two stage investigation, which included an independent panel made of other community councils, it was not upheld.

The panel’s decision stated: “The panel’s findings are that the treasurer has consistently complied with all aspects of his role as defined in the amended scheme and no improprieties were found.

“The panel found that all meetings of Moffat and District Community Council are open meetings and chaired fairly, the public are invited to attend even encouraged. They are invited to speak under the item ‘public forum’ on their agenda, draft minutes are then agreed, produced and posted on the public domain.”

The complainant had also objected to being banned from the group’s Facebook page.

On that matter, the panel held a lengthy discussion on free speech but found in the community’s council’s favour, saying: “We consider it a privilege to post on someone else’s Facebook page and not a right, that privilege can by definition be removed at any time.”

They concluded overall: “After much discussion, we could not find any written, oral or witness statement evidence to substantiate the claims against MDCC. The panel therefore concludes that the complaints are not upheld.”

Commenting this week, chairman Liam O’Neill said: “It’s unfortunate, but these things can happen. This person has been invited along to meetings and been invited to stand for the community council.

“I do not wish to start a witch hunt, but I do find it regrettable and reprehensible that things like this are said about people who put in an awful lot of time, their free time, for this community and are being met with this kind of attitude.”