A petition has been lodged to reinstate a community council in Angus following a deadline row.
The minimum membership for Hillside Dun and Logie Pert was five. With only four nominations received by last week’s deadline, the community council was dissolved.
Former chairman Gill Stranock said she posted the fifth nomination within the time period but Angus Council said it did not arrive in time.
The process to reinstate the local body has started and the statutory election timetable is 35 days.
“We could be waiting two months until our next meeting which is ridiculous,” said Mrs Stranock.
“We have got issues that we really need to deal with but we won’t be able to do it ourselves.
“It’s hugely frustrating when all this could have been sorted out before the deadline if they’d returned my call.”
Amid fears local apathy could lead to the current full house of 25 local community councils falling to virtually nil, Angus Council extended the closing date for nominations to September 26.
Mrs Stranock phoned the council’s Access Line on the morning of the deadline to check all documentation had been received.
She said she did not have the dedicated election contact number to hand and asked to be put through to that department.
“I was informed that I couldn’t talk to anyone in that department as there was training until 10am,” she said.
“I explained why I was contacting them and asked if they could call me back if there were any problems with the nominations and that I could attend to it that day as everything had to be completed by 4pm.
“No one called me back and I assumed everything was in place.”
She said it was “just ridiculous” they must go through the full process to reinstate the community council when Angus Council now has every nomination.
“It was through no fault of any of the nominees that the information wasn’t passed on,” she added.
Angus Council said the nomination paper in question did not reach the Returning Officer in time and it must adhere to the legal framework.
A spokesman said: “Secretaries and chairpersons of all 25 community councils were written to on August 15 to advise them of the forthcoming elections and they were provided with a copy of the Notice of Election which clearly stated the submission dates for all nominations.
“The initial closing date was Wednesday September 19, but this was extended by one week. It is the responsibility of each individual prospective candidate to submit their nomination in time.
“Guidance notes provided to candidates – as well as information on our website and via statutory notices – provided clear contact details for the Returning Officer and members of the election team.
“Nominations papers and all subsequent correspondence also contained direct contact details to assist any prospective candidate who needed to contact the Elections Team directly.
“When the person called our Access Line number – not any of the direct contact numbers provided – our election office was fully staffed and staff available.
“Unfortunately, the enquiry left by the caller was passed to another team in error. We have apologised directly to the caller for this.”
He said it must follow “due process” and it was not for them to apply or remove ‘red tape’.
