Trevor Hardie has it right when he writes in his letter of March 8 that there has been little change with Tenterfield Council in all the nine years he has lived in the shire.
From there he has it wrong , and indications are he does not know what is going on. I attended a Tenterfield Council session in late February and the acting general manager made the remarkable statement “If I had been the previous general manager I would have made decisions different to what he made.” That statement should set alarm bells ringing. Why did those last three general managers resign?
In their periods of management, council lost millions of dollars on bad investment. Look at the 2009 and 2010 balance sheets. What’s more, whilst the general managers may have recommended them, a sub-committee of councillors would have recommended them to full council to vote in favour of taking them up.
Now, Mr Hardie, you might realise why some councillors are trying to clean up the mess whilst others attempt to prevent it. In recent times Administration has sold off a lot of assets including a grader. Recently there was some finance available and the two city councillors Phil Yates and Lawrie West moved at the council meeting we buy a new grader and it be used in Ward A. The engineer to my surprise spoke against the purchase; advising there would not be enough work for it, and we would lose money. What rubbish!
First of all, council buys at a special rate and, if they sell within three years, they make a profit. There are roads including the heavily used Mt Lindesay Road that are full of potsholes. There would always be work for it. Also, in the remote chance there was not sufficient work, it could be hired out to RTA, used elsewhere or even hired to other nearby councils. Every one of our rural councillors voted against it. All rural voters should be ringing them and giving them a blast.
Another source of irritation is sub-committees where, if there is insufficient numbers to form a quorum, a meeting can`t be held. One of our rural councillors is renowned for not turning up for meetings and causes great inconvenience. I agree Trevour Hardie: Councillors have a lot to answer for in their lack of availability to the public. They never come near my area – although one did turn up for the chimney opening but refused to make himself available for shire problems.
We need councillors with common sense who are progressive and practical, and are devoted to the community and communicate with their wards. They need to be able to think logically and make logical decisions.
The days are gone when councillors were like lords of the manor and did what they thought was right. They are there to serve the people. So they need to talk to the people.
Jack Clarke
