brecken

The council seems to have a never ending pot of money to spend on unnecessary sh*te and obstacles around the town centre, had this money been channelled into basic maintenance and worthwhile projects that were actually required the town centre would be in a better position today.

If there are managers who are surplus to requirements then yes, cut them. But just cutting management positions and expecting 'the workers' to take on the management responsibilities isn't fair or a good long-term solution. I should have thought that with the SIC having 10 employees on salaries in the excess of £80,000 whereas other similar sized local authorities OIC having 4 employees salaried at £80,000+ and Eilean Siar only having only one employee above £80,000, managing similar budgets and delivering very similar services coupled with the near standstill of our capital investments program should tell anyone that we are either paying too much in salaries or have to many employees at these levels!

Poor reliability and breakdowns are something I’m afraid we’re going to have to get used to, years of poor management, lack of proper maintenance and investment plans coupled with lazy elected Councillors sitting on their arses while infrastructure is allowed to fall in sh*te around them catching up I’m afraid, it is however absolutely disgraceful this vital infrastructure and service has been allowed to get to today’s state of neglect and disrepair without any questions being asked or accountability, I only hope the young elected Councillors for the isles step up to the plate and we see some long overdue action and for once someone actually starts thinking about the future generations and not just themselves as has been the case for long!

Let’s all hope for the sake of Shetland they put together a stronger interview panel than they did last time around as might prevent another half-ass being added to an already stretched payroll again!

Our previous Political Leader might make a good candidate for CEO if we really must have one. He is nor afraid to say his piece in public not that I agree with it all, and further more he probably has already been on the Media brain washing course so that would save a bob or two. The only problem with him is he got to big headed and arrogant and was again more than willing to turn a blind eye and cover up things for an easy life and basically forgot what he was actually supposed to be doing as a Councillor, hence the reason we voted him out! Had he actual challenged thing’s when he knew they weren’t correct or indeed above board rather than going with the flow he may still have been employed as Councillor!

The only people to have really gained from our CEO lack of ability and unwillingness to participate and do the job to a reasonable standard apart from himself of course are the department heads and executive managers who have as a direct result followed suit and done Sweet FA for the past 5 years taking full advantage of the free reign and lack of accountability and supervision, the losers of course being the public of Shetland once again! To the tune of around £750,000 with nothing to show it’s an absolute disgrace and to be frank warrants a public enquiry! Again there is nobody shining from within the ranks of the SIC to put forward for CEO unless of course you want another 5 years of sitting on your a*se going backwards, if they must take on someone best make sure it’s someone who doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty is driven, motivated and has some get-up-and-go that will get the house in long overdue order and make managers accountable for their actions or lack of as is quite often the case within SIC management, not just another number to be added to an already over inflated and strained payroll! We could of course bring back Dave Clarke at least he could see the problems and was willing to do something about them!

I think we must remember we did successfully recycle in Lerwick and Scalloway up until a couple of years ago, we had the specialised vehicles and coloured bags, bins etc. and it worked, it was the council not the people of Shetland who made the decision to mothball these collections and reduce the recycling rates in Shetland to a U.K low in order to feed their incinerator! It very much looks like the same faces that made that wrong decision railroading this one is it any wonder people of Shetland are sceptical! Why was there no proper public consultation?

With current operations in Shetland struggling with the current Northlink run freight service which is constantly leaving trailers both sides at present and has done so for some time now even before Streamline pulled out, Vessels very quick to tie up if any indication of wind, I can’t see this waste stream being suitable for transporting on the passenger vessels, so in answer to your question No!

Doesn’t seem so long ago it was reported the Lerwick Incinerator was nearing the end of its useful life and required considerable investment and the council were trying to offload it to SHEP? Has it undergone some recent refurbishment and investment to make it reliable and capable of processing all this imported waste? Fair old Stench from their waste plant and storage facility at present can we expect more of this with additional storage times for the new stream of raw waste material and again when processing the older smellier raw material? Remembering of course the new non-recyclable raw material doesn’t contain the current non-smell waste make-up and mainly consists of the older smelly material, coupled with local collection times proposed to be doubled to 2 weeks and no saying how old the imported waste will be! Could be some interesting aromas about the town especially during the warmer months, maybe the council should look to start an insect farm alongside this plant to process the swarms of flies that will accompany the waste material! There would certainly be enough feedstock for them to feed off and there’s a good market for quality protein! It’s one thing running a small trial but very different I’m afraid when it comes to scaling to a viable operation!

Had to laugh at reading former Councilor Gussie Angus comment on the old AHS site, wasn't so long ago he sat on his a*se in the Toon Hall and called me a NIMBY for not wanting another of their Ad hoc development as him and his cronies had put forward and railroaded for developed in Gulberwick, well they do say what goes around comes around, so it's up your a*se Mr. A (Hole) another lesson to be learnt for our officials and elected you can’t expect one rule for one man and another rule for others, time to start eating some of that Turd you spoke while elected! LOL not so smug now are you NIMBY! Was surprised they didn't mention anything about the council looking to relocate HQ to old AHS building? http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/15445-housing-and-mixture-of-civic-uses-proposed-for-disused-anderson-high-school-site

I don’t see Wiltshire Council regretting getting shot of Mr Boden and the rest of the dead weight in their management structure, it’s a shame we don’t have a strong council leader with a pair of balls as in Wiltshire with Mr Bodens former boss Councillor Baroness Scott, she would have made short work clearing the large proportion of the dead beats from our SIC top heavy management team with her motivation and ability to wield the axe, I think over the years our councillors have become steadily weaker to the point they have completely lost all sense of what their actually supposed to be doing and have been bullied and suckered into becoming nothing more than puppets controlled by an arrogant out of control incompetent SIC management team, time for somebody to stand-up and call time on this nonsense and get the house in order before central government steps in to take control! For successful management you need strong high caliber people with the correct skill set and experience, it’s the quality of your employees not the quantity of them that counts when it comes to effective management, again one of the biggest problems with our current management team in Shetland where the evident shortfalls in skill and experience are constantly being highlighted. Maybe Baroness Jane Scott would be interested in becoming a consultant and directing and motivating our lost councillors and get them back on track and in control!

Every 5 years I like many others go to the polling stations in the hope of "rooting out" this problem but they are like weeds and keep finding there way back. They don’t all make it back we managed to Oust our arrogant ‘SIC Pup’ Oot Wast; he’d been walking in shoes half a dozen sizes too big far too long and didn’t listen to anyone out with the club! Don’t see his laughing buddies from the Select helping him now he’s no use to them! Should be a clear message to all Councillors listen to the public and do your job properly or your out!

Think you might find it's the council's own legal services department who overseen this lease agreement that now leaves them in this predicament without a leg to stand on, unless of course SLAP is feeling charitable! Another classic case of SIC management incompetence, More Turkey than Eagle I’m afraid! Certainly in the IQ department anyway, would be nice for once for someone to take some responsibility for their actions!

Fine empty shed next door to Mareel costing the SIC around a grand a day due to their management incompetence maybe they could make some use of that!

Hopefully the SIC and friends ‘Good old boys club’ is slowly dying a death now that people are starting to be held to account, and colleagues’ and associates are becoming reluctant to cover for others, it’s had a few chink’s in its Armor of late and the cracks are getting bigger as with their Sh*te House, let’s hope for everyone’s sake it comes sooner rather than later and somebody is actually brought to account!

I would have thought a private firm would provide a considerably superior service and saved considerably more than 10% with the SIC having the additional cost of all those extra Directors and Executive Managers and other freeloaders with fabricated titles sitting on their ar*es on fat salaries and matching expenses doing f*ck-all, unless of course when they’re adding to their never ending list of c*ck-ups due to their incompetence, all too common with this council management team and costing an additional fortune we don’t have, heaven knows what they’re going to do when the cookie jar is empty and the public are fed up throwing money into a dark hole, time for a radical long-overdue management overhaul and a new leader too clear the deadbeats and put an end to the arrogance and headless chicken management approach the SIC has adopted of late!

No. I was meaning the red/buff coloured half round markings crossing the road. There's one outside Captain Flints and one between McKays and the Thule. I've heard them referred to as 'Courtesy crossings' but can't seem to find much in the way of hard facts. They don't seem to be mentioned in the highway code. I did find a reference saying they are not actually crossings but are there to assist pedestrians to find a place where it may be safe to cross. Think these new road markings came straight from an edition of Noddy shown during a SIC management training seminar!

At a time when most Local Authorities are removing antiquated Zebra crossings amid safety concerns and replacing them with much safer modern crossings such as the Pelican crossings being removed, our council is moving in its usual backward way and doing the opposite as with the unnecessary speed bumps. This whole dreamt up scheme by Dumb and Dumber in infrastructure and development services and fast-tracked through by chief Baldrick and his merry Muppets formally of No.8 North Ness, now known as The turdey Hoose is a complete waste of public money all that was actually required was some 20 mph signs, an Engineer capable of fixing basic traffic lights and a more proactive approach by the Police, this would have achieved a better end result and saved quarter of a million which should have gone on something that was actually required. I think in a few years time both speed bumps and Zebra crossings will be a thing of the past; it’s high time the SIC started looking at the future and moving forward rather than backwards, I just hope nobody get seriously injured as a direct result of this nonsense. No mention of this projects contribution to the annual road maintenance program now currently running a month behind schedule or any overspend on original budget with project running over original timescale.

They won't tell you that... It's "confidential"..... Should probably start with the SIC Business Development Manager if that’s the best he can come up with! It’s about time somebody started to make SIC managers accountable for their actions & Fu*k-ups which are becoming all too common and costing a fortune!

Yes I would say to many chiefs and not enough indians. What does our chief executive Boden get paid so handsomely to do? Mark Boden seems to have risen without trace. Mr Boden has taken the council for around half a million so far, done absolutely fu*k-all, had his auld colleagues contracted in as consultants some of which we are still awaiting feedback and reports, I have already expressed my disappointment with this and his general lack of input or enthusiasm to the Ex-Political Leader & Convenor. One of our local Councillors has yet to meet Mr Boden despite already serving a 5 year term, again showing his inactive approach to the job if he can’t even take the time to meet the councillors elected by the people of Shetland. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him being the next SIC employee to make it into the Town Hall Rich List with a golden handshake from the SIC.

What the 'f''eck'! 7 months on and nothing happening, no repairs started yet, but the councils working as hard they can, sound about right for this council! Can’t tell us what the problem is! Can’t tell us when it’ll be fixed! Can’t tell us how much it’ll cost! Can’t tell us fock-all, don’t want to tell us fock-all! Unless of course it’s a pile of Sharn, typical SIC SIC still paying the lease and liable for the repairs, I dread to think what this balls-up will end up costing us! https://soundcloud.com/bbcradioshetland/good-evening-shetland-thursday-23rd-of-march-2017

More than 80% of the money spent on consultants says it all SIC , did the first survey not tell them anything (like maybe the Pier required some maintenance work) or possibly the halfwits of councillors and corporate mangers couldn't read the report properly, maybe what's need is someone in the council with a slightly higher IQ than a Turkey! http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/14225-plenty-of-surveys-but-no-repairs Beggars belief , time to get a grip SIC.

Not really a strong point honesty and clarity with the SIC more likely to get a load of waffle and a pack of lies. And I dread to think what they've covered up over the years, they won't even answer there freedom of information requests so hard to find out anything!

Looks likely we are going to have to pay to fix the Councils fock up with their sharn-Hoose and again nobody is accountable, no completion certificate what next? Common procedure my ass maybe for incompetent idiots! Time somebody gave that corporate management team a kick up the ass and started to make them accountable, if it wasn’t for the cost of their catalogue of fock-ups we’d comfortably be able to provide a high level of public services with the moneys allocated by the Scottish Government. Maybe we should have kept Dave Clark.

Not much action today on Church Road would have thought given the fine forecast they’d have let the guys have a bit of O.T and get cracking with the job given that it’s such a H&S concern, looks likely this project will drag on at the usual SIC pace, they have however managed to get the traffic below 20 just by digging a couple of holes and putting up a set of traffic lights that actually work!