STEVE FINAN: What have Dundee councillors done to earn pay rise?

In principle, I’m not against councillors being paid more.

I believe better pay might attract higher-calibre candidates.

Higher calibre than some of our current lot wouldn’t be difficult. Dundee City Council is a festival of mediocrity.

There are no qualifications required to be a councillor. No test to pass, no intellectual standard to reach, no need for references from previous employment – which is astonishing given the importance of the job.

I pay attention to the snippets of career history councillors give when campaigning for votes.

Once elected, I form an opinion of them based upon their eloquence in meetings, their negotiating skills, and political nous.

When they are given convenorships, I evaluate their organisational and leadership skills.

Frankly, few impress.

There are several (easy to identify) you wouldn’t want on your team in a quiz.

Former employers didn’t see anything in them worth developing or promoting, either.

Their only skill is to nod when told to nod.

Performance indicators

In any case, if councillors are getting a pay rise [due to a recent review undertaken by the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee], there should be targets alongside this.

That’s what happens in real jobs, where there are milestones and performance indicators to meet.

Which leads to the obvious question: what have councillors done to earn a rise?

An above-average pay award must be the result of above-average performance.

What has council leader Mark Flynn done to merit a 17% salary increase?

Did he perform 17% better than last year? If so, in what way?

The city’s sports convenor, Lynne Short, chose to vote (not abstain, which was a choice open to her) to close a major Dundee sporting venue.

And still hasn’t explained why.

The two new councillors who won by-elections (Jimmy Black and Lee Mills) have disappeared.

Does being a hide-and-seek champion deserve a pay rise?

Just this month the city appears to be closing community centres, to have presided over another expensive bungle of incorrectly fitted cladding at Yeaman’s Lane and Kirk Street, and allowed an excruciatingly embarrassing response to an FOI request.

And none of it has been explained.

Olympia silence

Cast your mind further back.

Have you ever heard a councillor give a well-thought-out opinion on the Olympia’s troubles?

The roofing debacle, fire alarms scandal, or any individual, insightful, intelligent point of view on a local matter?

Does the performance on any of these things strike you as reason to award pay rises far above the national average?

Even the council’s most sycophantic supporters would struggle to justify this.

If anyone thinks they can, please list this council’s achievements that deserve a bigger chunk of taxpayers’ money.

You should have a look online, councillors. Read the comments about this pay rise.

Are you so tone-deaf that you can’t see why ordinary Dundonians are complaining?

If you can, then speak up. Give an opinion that shows you have an ounce of political savvy.

Come on – what are your thoughts, councillors? Anything? Anything at all?

If you have nothing to say, you should resign.

Because ongoing silence, on every difficult subject, proves that you aren’t worth your current wage – never mind a rise.