Caithness Committee Chair and Civic Leader appointed

Councillor Donnie Mackay, who represents the Thurso and Northwest Caithness ward of The Highland Council, has been appointed as Chair of the new Caithness Committee which met for the first time today (Friday 16 June) in Wick.

After taking the Chair, Cllr Mackay thanked Members for their support and invited them to join him in a minute’s silence for those who have lost their lives and all the families and emergency service responders affected by the tragic fire in London. He then called for nominations to the role of Civic Leader and the committee unanimously backed Cllr Willie MacKay who represents the Wick and East Caithness ward.

Speaking after the committee, the new Chair, Cllr Donnie Mackay said: “It is a great honour to be given this role and I will do my level best to ensure Caithness is given the high profile it deserves. It is important that communities across the whole county have a voice, so regardless of our individual politics, I hope our Committee can productively work together and, with our community partners and of course the people across the whole of Caithness, to ensure we make the best use of the resources we have, drive priorities forward and focus on what’s important to the area.”

The post of Civic Leader is an honorary postion and after being photographed for the first time wearing the Civic Chain, Cllr Willie MacKay said: “Having lived in Caithness for 47 years I am very proud to be chosen as Civic Leader. It is a great honour and I will represent the area to the best of my abilities. I strongly believe that Caithness has much to offer from the wide ranging skills of its people, to its outstanding natural landscape that is totally unique. It will be a pleasure carrying out my duties.”

The other member appointments made during the meeting are as follows:

• Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership Advisory Board
  Cllr Donnie Mackay and Andrew Sinclair
• Dounreay Stakeholders Group
  Cllrs Willie MacKay, Matthew Reiss and Struan Mackie
• To serve as Directors of Caithness Horizons
  Cllrs Willie MacKay and Karl Rosie
• Caithness and North Sutherland Fund
  Cllrs Nicola Sinclair and Donnie Mackay
   
• To serve as a Director of the Caithness Citizen’s Advice Bureau
  Cllr Donnie Mackay
• Caithness Local Access Forum
  Cllr Raymond Bremner and Karl Rosie