by Paul O'Brien
Saturday 16 June 2007
Its the Scottish AGM of APSE today at Perth Racecourse and with all the changes in Scottish Local Government at the recent elections we know its going to be an unpredictable outcome. It makes a change from the usual cries of unopposed, as we have up to 3 nominations in some of the categories for election as chairs.
Pat and me spend the night before drafting standing orders for the meeting and we get these adopted at the start of the meeting along with the passing of the constitutional amendments to ensure that nobody can gripe after the event. The format is to be secret ballot done on an exhaustive basis. Although there are over 60 in attendance, there are only 19 member bodies present and therefore every vote is crucial.
The first election is for Scottish Chair and we have 3 candidates, after the first vote we have a split of 8, 6, and 5. So the candidate on 5 drops out and the membership vote again, this time it finishes 10 votes to 9 and Cllr Frank Anderson of West Lothian is elected.
There are a number of other close run contests during the process and despite some long standing members losing out, I can't help feel that the competitiveness of the occasion added to the status of APSE and the atmosphere of the meeting.
