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Complaint no. LA/Fa/90 concerning an alleged contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor Dennis Goldie of Falkirk Council

1. Complaint number LA/Fa/90 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor Dennis Goldie ("the respondent"). Councillor Goldie is the Depute Leader of the Labour Group on Falkirk Council and has been a councillor for 24 years.

2. It was alleged that the respondent contravened the Code, in particular, the provisions of paragraphs 2.1 and 3.2 relating to respect for other councillors and Council employees.

3. The person complaining was Councillor David Alexander who represents the SNP on Falkirk Council. Councillor Alexander is the Leader of the Council and Convener of the Policy and Resources Committee.

4. There were four different aspects to the complaint. The first related to the respondent's conduct at a series of meetings between 14 May 2003 and 5 May 2004 when he was alleged to have been disruptive and abusive, to have used inappropriate language and to have been disrespectful to fellow councillors and to the complainant. On four occasions the Council's standing orders for dealing with unacceptable conduct by councillors, at meetings of the Council or its Committees, had been invoked against Councillor Goldie.

5. The second part of the complaint related to allegations that, at meetings of the Policy and Resources Committee, the respondent had attacked the personal and professional integrity of certain Council officers.

6. The third aspect of the complaint alleged that the respondent had colluded with a member of the public who had conducted a campaign to discredit the Council.

7. The final part of the complaint alleged that the respondent had undermined public confidence in the Council's financial management of its contracts by expressing concerns about the operation of certain contracts but refusing to disclose the information necessary to enable those concerns to be investigated.

8. Councillor Goldie strongly denied all of the allegations and claimed that they had been created to smear his name and intimidate him from robust scrutiny of the Administration's policies.

9. In the course of investigating the complaint, information was obtained in writing from the respondent and the Council and interviews were also conducted. In relation to the first aspect of the complaint, in view of the conflicting information, I could not be reasonably sure that it was Councillor Dennis Goldie who made the offending remark. In relation to the second aspect of the complaint while this type of conduct is inappropriate I was unable to determine from the information specifically available whether Councillor Goldie's conduct was such that it could have reasonably amounted to a contravention of the Code. In relation to the third aspect of the complaint while there was frequent reference to Councillor Goldie in correspondence and other documentation issued by this person there was insufficient evidence to indicate that he actively supported his campaign against the Council. In relation to the fourth aspect of the complaint the views of the complainant and the respondent conflicted on this issue and there was insufficient independent information available to enable me to have concluded, in this connection, that Councillor Goldie contravened the Code.

10. Having considered carefully all the available information I found that in relation to complaint number LA/Fa/90, there was insufficient evidence to have enabled me to conclude that Councillor Goldie could have reasonably been taken as having contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
24 February 2005