No common sense (Sandy McMillan)

The many Shetland Islands Council officials who lack vision, as mentioned by Olive Walterson, also lack common sense when deciding on what and where to make cutbacks.

One councillor was talking about cutting back on what is given out by Shetland Charitable Trust to the residents of Shetland. The charitable trust should not come into the equation at all. It is there to help the people of Shetland, not to bail out the council.

So you guys in the town hall can keep your mitts off. If you are getting desperate for cutbacks, start by cutting back on the over-paid officials, and all the perks that go with the jobs, starting with the chief executive and then the other heads of departments.

As we all know, SIC heads of departments are some of the most highly paid in the country. Who in the SIC deserves £140,000 plus? Another is on £90,000, and so on throughout all the other departments.

What is all this nonsense of pre-gritting? To date it has done nothing but rain. This is not a cutback – it is an overspend!

On Sunday I met a gritting lorry at approximately 5pm. Yes it was gritting, but it was also raining. What a waste of money with the cost involved: grit, the lorry and the driver who all had to be paid.

And by the way, the car temperature was reading 5º Celsuis!

Sandy McMillan
13 South Lochside,
Lerwick.

COMMENTS(6)

Add Your Comment
  • Gordon Laurenson

    • November 21st, 2012 13:17

    Don’t they study the weather forecast re temperatures, WHO makes these daft decisions?

    REPLY
  • G leask

    • November 21st, 2012 15:41

    Sandy, you may have seen the gritter out in the rain for very good reason last week. I noted that there had been a leakage of diesel right into town on the South Road making the carriageway slippery and hazardous particularly at the two roundabouts. I was going to phone the SIC to report the hazard but someone beat me to it and within 10 minutes the gritter had sorted the potential problem. Well done the road dept ( and good on the person who had the sense to report it pronto).

    REPLY
  • Sandy McDonald

    • November 21st, 2012 20:20

    They were maybe expecting a large temperature drop in the night.

    REPLY
  • John Tulloch

    • November 21st, 2012 22:10

    I tocht at dey said at wi dis global warmin’ at da sicht o’ snaa wid be “a rare and excitin’ event” an dat wir bairns wid grow up athoot kennin’ whit snaa lookit laek?

    An at da Cooncil wis dedicatit tae reducin wir caarbon fitprint tae stop dat fae happenin?

    Is dat no whit wye dir forty thoosand fokk fleein’ intae Qatar – tae try an hinder dat fae comin aboot?

    I tink dey better no budder, hit wid save wis money if hit wis waarmer!

    REPLY
  • Graham Henderson

    • November 22nd, 2012 12:14

    Dear John Tulloch,
    wi aa deese windmills wi hae noo, dey will shoorly cool wiz doon an wi’ll hae snaa wance mair an dye fitprint’ll be nay mair muckle dan hit oesed ta be. Onywye, Shetland disna hae ony carbon at I’m herd aboot.
    Slesterin da rods wi saat will juist improve car sales as dey aa rust onywye acause o wir bloody aawful wadder.
    I tink da cooncil soodna bodder eidder, hit wid mak drivin mair fun. I’m no seen dem winter ralley drivers haein tae slow doon or duntin da erse o a gritting lorry.
    I’m wi dee, hit wid save wiz money if hit wiz a peerie coarn waarmer.

    REPLY
  • Tom Leask

    • February 20th, 2013 21:17

    I see NHS Shetland is needing to make cuts to save money but cutting the numbers of doctors I feel is not the way to do it, Ralph Roberts would be better employing more doctors
    and cut some of the high paid none medical staff at Brevik house they could be
    off work for a week I dont think they would be missed, but if a doctor is off for one
    day they would be missed right away. Just a thought.

    REPLY

Add Your Comment

Please note, it is the policy of The Shetland Times to publish comments and letters from named individuals only. Both forename and surname are required.

Comments are moderated. Contributors must observe normal standards of decency and tolerance for the opinions of others.

The views expressed are those of contributors and not of The Shetland Times.

The Shetland Times reserves the right to decline or remove any contribution without notice or stating reason.

Comments are limited to 200 words but please email longer articles or letters to editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk for consideration and include a daytime telephone number and your address. If emailing information in confidence please put "Not for publication" in both the subject line and at the top of the main message.

200 words left

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

logo

Get Latest News in Your Inbox

Join the The Shetland Times mailing list to get one daily email update at midday on what's happening in Shetland.