When the present Tenterfield Shire Council came to office almost four years ago it had on its table a current comprehensive Promoting Better Practice Review Report by the Department of Local Government. Among the recommendations were the need to improve leadership within Council and the community, accurately forecasting and managing its financial position; building and maintaining infrastructure in an effective manner; acknowledging and res-ponding to demographic change (in particular an ageing community); and engaging more successfully with the community.
Councillors were told that failure to address these challenges potentially placed Council’s future sustainability at risk. The review team was disappointed at evidence of poor leadership shown at the elected councillor and senior management level. Most of the councillors and senior management the review team spoken to were unable to demonstrate a clear and consistent understanding of Council’s strategic direction. Some appeared to be unable to focus on the ‘bigger picture’. Councillors for the most part also lacked a clear understanding of their role and functions under the Local Government Act 1993.
Just how far council has addressed these issues seems to be a matter of conjecture. The shire indeed faces momentous challenges and, more particularly, historic opportunities. Yet Councillors seem to have a myopic outlook, focusing primarily on ‘in-house’ combat and plays for grasping power.
Whether voters expect it or not, we certainly deserve better. We need to seize opportunities, understand their dimensions and work innovatively to diversify the rewards. We need to ensure our resources have the potential to sustain continued levels of population increase, develop new areas within the shire and underwrite better infrastructure and facilities.
These are indeed exciting and bracing times that past Tenterfield Council leaders would have been enlivened by the prospects. But now, as the challenges and opportunities are right here, we hear very little from our council leaders. Decades hence, it is likely historians will struggle to comprehend the pre-occupations of the current councillors.
The difficult financial climate spoken of by the Mayor in his latest newspaper column will be understood, but historians will strain to find evidence that the shire had tackled its longer term challenges.
Perhaps the most predominant issue for the current council according to the mayoral columns is a heavy vehicle alternative route for the New Eng-land Highway through Tenterfield. The RMS which is the body responsible for the Highway, refers to this matter as a Tenterfield by-pass…which we all know to be true. Earlier in the life of the current council, nominations were called for positions on a steering committee to review the recommendations of a report on this issue by Peece Pty Ltd. That steering committee was never convened. This is not encouraging nor inspiring. These matters must be open for debate and we need a more sophisticated discussion among those affected.
Primarily council has been complicit in picking over some of the less consequential side-effects of our shire needs rather than the more significant questions. We have seen knee-jerk reactions from within council, when we should have a mature discussion about the central business area streetscape master plan, supporting medical and pharmacy facilities in a shopping complex already over taxed with a shortage of parking spaces.
The opportunities for Tenterfield Shire are boundless. We abound in nature’s gifts and there is a wealth here for toil. Apart from expanding our natural and agricultural resources there is opportunity for more services and education. The innovative exploitation of these opportunities is the real answer and the conversation needs to be expansive and expanded.
Current councillors are fast running out of time to outline a plausible narrative for our local aspirations. They must lift their gaze from any elusive prize of the September election and articulate positive plans to seize the many opportunities that surround us.
Ken Halliday
Sandy Flat
