Several of my contacts have mentioned to me that they feel they are not. Liverpool resident Ian Bailey said he thinks that councillors seem to be just ``rubber stamping'' whatever recommendations they receive from officers.

``It's up to the councillors to set the agenda,'' Mr Bailey said.

``I think they should be more pro-active and should be generating debate instead of just listening to what they're officers are telling them.''

Singe Westerberg, a Liverpool based business woman, said in a comment to one of my previous entries that the councillors should never forget that they represent the people.

``I think it is important for the public to hear the debate and conversations [councillors have before the make their decisions],'' Ms Westerberg wrote.

``Simply rubber stamping matters makes one wonder what is really going on.

``I also agree that we employ council staff with various credentials and it would be remiss of us not to pay attention to that advice, although I think debate and clarity is important.

``We trusted the last council too...(much).''

Hoxton Park resident John Anderson agrees.

``They're just not being pro-active enough,'' Mr Anderson said, this week.

``We were waiting to get elected representatives for four years, while we were under administration, and now we've got them and what are they doing?

``It seems to me like they're not accomplishing a lot.

``Not much has changed around Hoxton Park, that's for sure, and it's very disappointing.

``And now they want to raise rates and there's no guarantee that they will actually use the money for the good of Liverpool.

``Rates have been raised in the past and we haven't seen any concrete changes on the ground, so I hope it's different this time.

``I think the councillors need to reconnect with the people and find out what we really want to be done.

``They should stop just listening to what the council officers say, it's about what the people that elected them want, and they should take the power back into their hands.''

Councillor Ned Mannoun, however, argued this week that a lot of the people criticising councillors, like John Anderson and Signe Westerberg, were unsuccessful election candidates themselves.

``I think that a lot of them plan to keep attacking us for the next four years and think that that will win them seats on the next council,'' Cr Mannoun said.

``All councillors are actually working really hard and we've accomplished a lot alreay.

``The CBD committee, that I started, met for the first time this week and that group will work to do a lot to improve Liverpool in the near future.

``So that's a good example of an innitiative generated directly by councillors.''

Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller said she disagrees with the critics, arguing that the general manager and the council officers are trained professionals and listening to their wisdom is integral for the operation of the council.

``Phil Tolhurst is in charge of operational issues at council,'' Ms Waller said recently.

``And while we make the final decisions about whether recommendations are passed or not, Mr Tolhurst is the one that is running the council day to day and we need to respect that.

``That is how the operation of councils is set down by the Local Government Act.

``And it's a good thing, because this way councillors can't just get carried away with their own agendas and push through what they want.

``In the past, before this act was put into place, councillors were known to focus funds on the streets family members lived on, or do people favours and that got councils into a lot of trouble, so we want to avoid that at all costs.

``The general manager is very experienced in the town planning field and he provides a lot of guidance and assistance to the councillors.

``But it is up to councillors to make final ruling on decisions and they have to put effort in to find all the informaion they need and make the right decision.

``But they need to remember the proper way of doing things according to the act and let the general manager and council officers play their role too.''

Obviously these are strong and valid points from Ms Waller, as always, but I believe the councillors could still be carving out a stronger role for themselves. At almost every council meeting questions are adressed to Mr Tolhurst and he plays a role tha appears to be just as significant as that of the mayor. I think that the mayor and the councillors need to reclaim this role. And to do that requires confidence. Although the mayor cannot be accused of this, and she has already expressed her desire to be an adjudicator, rather than an speech-maker at council, many of the councillors need to take the innitiative to do research into what they're voting on and not rely on the council staff as much.

We must remember that the councillors still lack experience, only being in power for around eight months now, but it's time that they found some confidence. They were given the mandate to sit on council by the people so they need to take full advantage of it.

Obviously none of them have town planning or engineering expertise, we know that, but they all have common sense and life experience, that should be why they were voted into the seats by Liverpudlians, so if they devote enough time they should be able to make sense of the issues in front of them and also ask the questions they need before the meeting and have a point of view. Because the problem often seems to be that many of them seem to lack an opinion on the issues at hand. Or possibly lack the confidence to have an opinion. But most Liverpudlians don't, so they should find out what the locals want and try to achieve that. After all, this is why they were elected.

I interviewed the general manager just before the councillors were about to start their tenure and he told me that this would be an ``exciting time for council''.

He said that he was happy that Liverpool was getting elected representatives and he would do everything in his power to help them with their work.

Which according to councillor Gary Lucas is exactly what he does.

``He's very helpful,'' Cr Lucas said.

``I direct all my enquiries and requests from the public to him and he works quickly and effectively to try to solve the issues at hand, which I really appreciate.''

Now as I said above, this is great to hear, but doesn't that just mean that councillors are like middle-men between the public and the general manager.

Shouldn't they be at the forefront? I would encourage them to take a leading role and get back to the community and establish themselves as leaders. The councillors need to show people that they care about their issues and are there to help them solve them and the best way to do that is by attending more functions, events and community meetings and mingling with the locals. And finding a way to set the agenda at the meetings, that fits in with the current act, of course.

Hopefully once they feel more confident they will push for projects that the public wants and be seen to generate more ideas and debate at the meetings.

I hope that someday soon the answer to the question of who is running council will be obvious to everyone. And that answer will be the mayor and the councillors.