“Amazing”, “frustrating” and “chaotic” are some of the views of three new Moray councillors elected after the local government vote in May.
Conservative councillor for Elgin North Amber Dunbar became involved in politics while carrying out work experience in the Moray parliamentary office of MP Douglas Ross.
She admits to “bawling her eyes out” when she was voted into Moray Council following the elections in May. She represents a ward in the town where she was born and brought up.
Ms Dunbar, who is part of the ruling Conservative administration, described the job as “amazing”.
She said: “It’s the first time in my life I’ve look forward to a Monday morning.
“It is a massive learning curve. Even if you’ve had all the experience in the world I don’t think it could prepare you completely for it.
“But at this stage I feel I’ve figured things out.”
While enjoying the work, being a councillor brings challenges.
Ms Dunbar said: “It’s a difficult thing when you can’t just click your fingers and fix everything – no one person can.
“And sometimes you find the ideal outcome is not always possible.”
As chairwoman of the housing and community safety committee she has to deal with a lot of housing issues.
Ms Dunbar said: “I think my biggest successes have come from casework.
“It’s getting people a stable place to live or getting an occupational therapist out.
Working well together
“Housing is fundamentally the one thing that people need. The feedback I get from people is they’re so grateful.”
Elected members have been criticised in the past by the Audit Commission for not collaborating. However, Ms Dunbar believes that is not the case at the moment.
She said: “The reason I got into politics was to help people, and I think that’s the case with most politicians regardless of their point of view.
“I really like the people at the council. We do work together on a variety of things.
“There is a meeting with all the Elgin councillors on things like common good. I genuinely think we all work well together.”
Even if discussions in the chamber do become heated she feels it is “a very productive environment.”
A full-time job
At 26 Ms Dunbar believes she brings a fresh viewpoint to the council.
She said: “It’s amazing to be able to show young people that local government can truly represent them too.
“I don’t think young people get a big enough voice in politics generally. Being able to provide my perspective on things as a young woman who has grown up in Moray is a real privilege.”
Ms Dunbar continues to work 10 hours a week in the Moray MP’s office.
She said: “I’m very lucky I have a role that fits in with being a councillor.
“It is very much a full-time job, but I knew it would be before I put myself forward for it.”
Jérémie Fernandes was voted in for the SNP in Elgin North as one of the new Moray councillors.
Originally from France, he came to Scotland in 2012 to teach at Aberdeen University before retraining as an information professional.
Moving to Elgin seven years ago, he works at Moray College and is delighted his employer is being flexible around his council duties.
Working evenings and weekends
The new Moray councillor said: “I knew what I was getting into.
“I knew most of the councillors through the party, so I was aware of what the workload would be and that I would be working evenings and weekends.
“I’m quite lucky being in Elgin as there’s only one community council. In other words, there are several.”
Mr Fernandes has been irked by the length of time it takes to get things done in the local authority.
He said: “The pace of change in the council has been frustrating. Everything is slow.
“In that respect, the SNP group in trying to move things forward, and I have put forward notices of motion on the cost of living crisis and the school meals budget.
“People can’t wait for the next report to come forward.”
One thing Mr Fernandes did not expect were the issues in the Conservative group following the elections.
Convener Marc Macrae stood down from the role after concerns were raised over his suitability for the job. Co-leader Neil McLennan left the administration as did Heldon and Laich councillor James Allan.
Salary ‘a barrier’?
Mr Fernandes said: “I was surprised after the election at the turmoil in the Tory group.
“Nothing was done for the first three months, everything was on hold because of the situation with the leadership.”
The new Moray councillor added it resulted in places on committees not being taken up.
This has still to be finalised following the resignation of Buckie Liberal Democrat councillor Christopher Price in August, that has prompted a by-election in the ward.
While Mr Fernandes is keen to see elected members take on their responsibilities, he accepts the salary of around £19,000 a year is a barrier to some people standing for council.
He said: “If you’re working in a professional job you’d never go for council, but that’s the kind of people and individuals that’s needed – not just pensioners and party staffers.
Someone cares
“Being a councillor is an essential job and it’s a worthwhile job.
“I was dealing with someone who had a neighbour who was being very difficult and behaving antisocially, which was damaging their mental health.
“The fact I could intervene and flag it with council officers I think helped make someone’s life a bit better.
“Parts of my ward have the highest poverty levels in Moray, and I know a lot of people will be struggling with the cost of living crisis.
“I will absolutely make sure the council does its utmost to address that.
“I want people to know someone cares.”
Labour councillor for Fochabers Lhanbryde Ben Williams grew up in a military family, moving around the UK and Germany before settling in Moray six years ago.
He combines his ward duties with studying politics, public policy and biblical Hebrew at the University of Glasgow.
Mr Williams is one of three Labour councillors on the 26-seat local authority. He praised his colleagues John Divers and Sandy Keith for helping him get to grips with the job.
He said: “It was a really steep learning curve, but I’m finding my footing now.
“I’m very thankful for John and Sandy, they have collectively a lot of experience between them and they’ve got me in the right direction.”
One of the most difficult situations Mr Williams has had to deal with is differing opinions from constituents on flooding from the River Spey at Garmouth.
Votes make a difference
He said: “I got emails from people in my ward and the emails were polar opposites.
“It can be very difficult when there is a binary choice.”
While councillors voted against flooding measures for the communities in September Mr Williams is positive a proper solution to the problem can be found.
He said: “I’m hopeful we’ll get flood protection for Garmouth.
“We’re only five months into a five-year term so I think we’ll get there.”
Mr Williams is pleased a decision to wipe just over £24,000 in unpaid school meal debt was passed.
He said: “It was a very tangible vote that can have an instant impact.
“It’s these votes that can make a difference.
£24k school meals debt wiped
“When you look at it on a grand scale, things have been particularly terrible for people, and if we can do something that can help a family I think that’s one of the biggest successes we can get for a local authority.”
As part of his new Moray councillor duties, Mr Williams took part in local Canada Day commemorations. He said he found that “very profound.”
He did find the first three months of the council “chaotic” with the convener stepping down, people leaving the administration and a new civic leader role created.
Mr Williams said: “There’s so much time we could have spent talking about the things that matter.
“Revising council structures because the administration want to do that or to get rid of one of their leaders – we’re not going to make a difference with this.
“I don’t think people care about the structure of the administration, I think they care about the difference we can make to their lives.
“I genuinely hope things have settled down, over the last two months the council has managed to get down to business and I hope that continues.”
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