The under-fire ruling group on Angus Council has seen off a demand for an emergency meeting to install a new leader within days.
Recent weeks have seen the multi-party alliance plunged into crisis by internal divisions which will see current leader Bob Myles vacate the leader’s chair next month.
Arbroath Independent David Fairweather is the hot tip to succeed the Brechin and Edzell figure.
Mr Myles is understood to have been ousted in a vote of no confidence, but has remained firm in his position that it was always his intention to consider his position at the end of the ruling group’s first term.
At Forfar’s Town and County Hall on Thursday, he said he remained “fully committed” to leading the group until the final meeting of the authority in mid-June.
Mr Myles was responding to a motion from SNP opposition group leader and Forfar councillor Lynne Devine, in which she criticised recent “whisperings, murmurings and strange manoeuvrings”.
“This could have been dealt with in an efficient and, shall we say, grown up manner by at least letting us in the opposition groups know whether or not a new leader would be announced,” said Ms Devine.
“We would have thought that if a group within the administration decided that they had lost confidence in their present leader and told him to step down, they would have had someone ready to fill that position.
“How can any of us, including the public and staff, have any faith in this administration until they have done the sensible thing – assuming that’s possible?”
She said members wanted assurances that the leadership appointment would take place before the next council meeting.
“During this administration we have had more than the usual number of special councils so another one wouldn’t go amiss, focusing solely on the leader and new administration conveners and vice-conveners. We don’t have to wait till June 14,” she added.
“A rudderless council cannot function properly, and with big decisions supposed to be taken, we feel that the leader needs to be voted in and his team appointed and drawn together long before the new session starts in August.”
Councillors unanimously agreed the motion calling for the new leader to be appointed by the mid-June final meeting.
Mr Myles said: “The timing is important as it lets members appointed to new positions have the summer recess to get up to speed with their portfolios.”
He cited budget savings of £18 million, work at the forefront of the Tay Cities Deal and the upcoming Open Championship as success stories for Angus.
“I’m confident there will be more good news stories as we move into our second year,” he added.
Coalition colleague and council finance spokesman Angus Macmillan Douglas rose to the defence of the embattled chief.
“What I have seen over the last year leading this administration has been the quiet intelligence of Councillor Myles getting things done, while rather noisier colleagues get very little done,” he said.
