A Perth and Kinross councillor this week upset the council's leader by describing Perth as "dying on its feet".
SNP leader Grant Laing called the fellow elected member's comments "unhelpful".
The war of words was sparked as members discussed the remit of a brand new Perth and Kinross Council committee.
The Climate Change and Sustainability Committee met for the first time on Wednesday, August 24. Questions were raised about what would fall within the committee's brief.
Conservative Strathmore councillor Hugh Anderson asked what input the committee would have on council buildings and staff working from home and sustainability.
He said: "At the other end we've got Perth - it's dying on its feet. Footfall is very very important in Perth and the council workers and employees in Perth are a valuable resource to the businesses in the town. I just wondered what input we will have on these changes to come."
Executive director of Communities Barbara Renton said Cllr Anderson's question highlighted the range of issues that might be of interest to the committee but might not fall directly within the current remit.
She said: "In relation to what buildings we have that might not be a decision for this committee but we would certainly be asking this committee their views on some of that."
Sat in the city chambers at the top of Perth's High Street, council leader Grant Laing took exception to a fellow councillor "talking our city down".
Cllr Laing said: "I really take issue with Cllr Anderson's comments about Perth 'dying on its feet'. That's totally unhelpful. It's not factually correct. Retail is undergoing a difficult time but to call out the city of Perth as 'dying on its feet', I think he should maybe rephrase that.
"There's a lot of good stuff going on in Perth. The council's got to keep driving things forward. There are a lot of businesses starting up and Perth could be a vibrant place.
"It's unhelpful when we have elected members talking our city down and I think he should retract that comment or rephrase it."
The Strathmore councillor responded: "I just have memories of Perth as a vibrant city in the past and it's gone. Look at it now to what it used to be. The High Street has so many empty shops which used to be vibrant opening daily and people coming into town. There's not the footfall in town we used to have.
"As you say, it's possibly recovery from COVID but it's a major change from Perth as how I remember it - in the good days - when I had businesses operating in Perth."
PKC's head of Planning and Development Management David Littlejohn told the committee there was a plan in place to sustainably transform Perth City Centre.
He said: "It's fair to say we have seen an increase in the number of vacant shops.
"However, that vacancy rate in Perth is still significantly better than many other comparable settlements across the country."
He told councillors city centres were changing with shopping becoming just one of a number of things people might choose to do there.
He said: "Clearly retail is changing. City centres - and Perth is no different - high streets are becoming a place where retail increasingly becomes just one of the things people do when they're in the city centre. It might be more around culture, leisure, eating, drinking, meeting friends rather than principally shopping. That's a change that we are well placed to take advantage of with the investment in cultural facilities and significant funding through the council to look at adaptation of properties - particularly retail - into other uses.
"We do have a plan in place for a sustainable transformation of Perth City Centre but we're doing in the context of issues like this across the country.
"We're certainly aware of it, live to it and responding to it."
