Two members quit troubled Nairn River Community Council in a further outpouring of hostility between some members and their chairman
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Two members of the troubled Nairn River Community Council have tendered their resignations in a further outpouring of hostility between some members and their chairman.
Steven Bain, who has served on the community council for eight years, said he is now totally disillusioned by chairman Hamish Bain, who survived a vote of “no confidence” last month.
His resignation letter last week was quickly followed by the resignation of Katrina Woods.
Soon after they quit the fractured organisation, supporters of the chairman issued a strongly worded statement in support of their leader.
Hamish Bain was elected chairman by cutting a pack of cards at the group’s AGM in February, having previously taken over as interim chairman from his predecessor Tommy Hogg, who stepped down on health grounds.
He walked out of an online meeting of March 17 after winning the “no confidence” vote using his casting vote, and the meeting was quickly closed down.
A “resumed” meeting was arranged by the chairman on Good Friday despite protests that it was a local holiday.
Steven Bain and others, who were against the Good Friday meeting, did not attend.
He said recent events, including a voicemail from the chairman accusing him of lying in an unnamed social media post following a complaint from a member of the public, was the last straw.
In his resignation letter, he stated: “I take this allegation very seriously as I have always acted truthfully in any meetings, phone calls, emails or on voicing my opinion on any social media platform.”
He said: “It’s been run like a dictatorship. He has the support of six members including himself. There are six other members, but we just don’t have a voice because he always has the casting vote.
“If I was facing a no confidence vote I would have abstained.”
Nairn Highland councillor Liz MacDonald, who sat in on the Good Friday meeting, claimed she had previously stopped attending the meetings of the community council because of bullying, and she was considering boycotting them again.
“I am very sorry to hear Steven has resigned,” she said.
“He was a voice of reason on the community council. He was good at defusing matters when things got heated.”
Cllr McDonald said she has witnessed first hand the bullying that goes on.
The Courier contacted Hamish Bain who said he felt it was inappropriate for him to comment and referred us to former secretary Mandy Lawson. She issued a lengthy statement on behalf of five members supporting him.
A copy of the statement was sent to the six members who backed the no confidence vote.
In the statement, Ms Lawson accused opponents of spreading “false narratives” about their chairman and those who support him.
“We know Hamish, as a person and fellow community councillor and respect his authority and leadership as chairman and his integrity,” she said.
“He is a decent honest person and a well-liked, conscientious local community councillor. As such, he embodies all the qualities we all aspire to in our code of conduct.”
She said the six members who had opposed him instead put their efforts into undermining, adding: “By doing so [they] have wilfully damaged the reputation of the community council.”
