Going North

Sorry I have been slack about posting. Am going north for some sun , will be back around the 10th July . Stay tuned. Oh and in case you didnt hear we decided to stay with 12 councillors
. Elections are in October ... get ready !

June Agenda

The agenda for next Tuesdays meeting is out and jeepers its a big one! It looks like a telephone book - 500 pages including attachments plus a 300 page download attachment - oh joy ! You can access your very own copy via the Shires website . Quickly flicking thru it there are a few items that are controversial and will stir the natives. For instance a 68 lot high density strata subdivision in Smith St. , draft dam and water feature policy , the proposal to reduce councillor numbers and to top it all off the east/west Wilson Inlet debate. I will have more to say about these items later - right now Ive got some reading to do !

The picture shows the 1932 Road Board. 2nd from the left back row is J.B. Thornton grandfather of Cr.Ross Thornton . J.D. Smith is 2nd from left front row.

Climate Change Meeting

As some of you may know I am the chair of the Shire's Climate Change Advisory Committee and have been following the science and issues around climate change for some time.

Next Thursday the 18th there will be an information session run by South Coast Natural Resource Management on the implications of climate change on the south coast region. It will be held at the Shire Chambers 6.30 to 8.30 . All are welcome and if you have any interest in the defining issue of our times I urge you to attend. Miriam Lang from the Ag. Dept. will give a presentation on the science and predictions .... she has very interesting data on the south coast plus Melanie Price from Coffey Environments will talk on sea level and biodiversity. I attended this presentation a week ago in Albany and do recommend it !

The Southwest of Australia has been identified by the IPCC and CSIRO as a area particularly vulnerable to climate change its in your own interest to find out more ... head in the sand is not a option !

You can RSVP for the talk to Melanie Price 98926400.

Dollars & Sense

Council met yesterday for a nearly 5 hour long workshop to develop next years budget. This is the first of two workshops we have before adopting the budget at a special meeting on the 28th of July. Yesterdays meeting was to review wish list items from councillors and staff. Its fair to say that councillors are very aware of the poor economic environment and will be trying to keep any increased charges to a minimum.

Odd or Even ?

Another factor that I should have mentioned re councillor numbers is whether it should be odd or even. Yes before you say it I know that councillors are intrinsically odd ! When it is a even number the President has the casting vote ... effectively two votes , and of course when its odd we dont have this problem.

How Many Councillors?

The Minister has challenged all local governments to reform by voluntary amalgamations and reduce councillor numbers to between 6 and 9. Most observers agree that the local government sector is overdue for reform its just when you get to the nitty gritty detail the argument starts. The local government peak body WALGA has been driven into a frenzy responding to the Minister. The industry is rife with special interests and long standing traditions , there is enormous inertia and resistance to change.
As far as Denmark goes there does not seem to be much scope for amalgamation apart from including the Walpole area into the Shire. There is some merit in this idea however Walpole is in the Shire of Manjimup and they are not very interested in handing it over !.... and of course the good people of Walpole need to have a say in all of this.

So its down to councillor numbers. We have 12 at present split between 3 wards.The proposal is to maintain the ward system but reduce the number of councillors by one in each leaving a total of 9 councillors. The main points in favour of this centre around making the decision process more effective and efficient plus some direct cost savings in having to pay less councillors. The arguments against centre around a perceived loss of democratic representation and increased workload on councillors. On balance I support reducing numbers to 9 because I believe that we would be a much more effective group. After attending nearly 2 years of meetings as a councillor and 2 as an outside observer it is clear to me that 12 is too unwieldy. 9 would still give diversity of opinion and save approximately $30k in direct costs. ( total budget 08/09 for councillor fees,meals,allowances ect was approx. $120k ) .

Anyway thats just my opinion at the moment , I welcome debate , being a councillor I probably will change my mind ! What do you want? send me some comments and vote on the new poll at the right.

One last thing the photo above shows your hard working and humble servants , third from the left back row is Cr. Richard Phair its his birthday today , so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ric !!!!

Moderating Comments Pt.2

I should have also said that you are welcome to post anonymous comments , however naturally if the comment is contentious it will have more weight with a real name attached. If you have a issue with me or really have something you want to tell me or discuss with me that falls into the personal or defamatory category then of course you are welcome to contact me directly via email , phone or in person. ( my details are in the local phone book and at the Shire )

Back to normal programming now...

Moderating Comments

I have had some spam and defamatory comments posted that are now deleted. Consequently I have enabled comment moderation so any comments you post will not appear immediately. I am sorry about this , I suppose it was inevitable as most blog sites suffer from spam. I want and value your opinions and comments but please no personal or defamatory stuff that just leads to a online slanging match.

A Little Bit of History

As alluded to in the previous post, this month the council will deal with a potentially quite contentious item - reform of local government. We will be considering reducing councillor numbers from 12 down to 9. The ministers preferred range is 6 to 9 . Straight up I have got to tell you that Im in favour of this. Anyway Ive been doing a little research into the Council history that you may find interesting. On September 22, 1911 the Governor Sir Gerald Strickland created the Denmark Road District. Elections were held on December 2 and the first meeting of the board was in early 1912.

George Arthur Flay was the first Chairman. Other members were Arnold Adams , Henry Kingdon , John Ricketts , Edward McLean , Joseph Smith and Gilbert Staker. Harold Buckley was secretary.

The area of the district in 1912 was 775 square miles (today 1842 sq. kms = 720 sq. miles ). Number of electors was 192 !!!! and total revenue was 884 pounds sterling ! ( Garry are you reading this ? )

Ive been unable to find a picture of the original Board. The one above is from 1919.Front row third from the left is George Arthur Flay , still chairman and on his left is Joseph Smith. Joseph was remarkable in that he served continuously from 1912 till 1946 - a truly amazing achievement.

So in the beginning there were 7 board members and no wards. In 1913 5 wards were created -East,West and North wards each having one member plus a South and Town ward with 2 each. Note there was a member for every 28 electors !!

Moving forward to today we have 12 councillors with 3 wards and the councillor/elector ratio is 1:343

The proposal is to maintain the 3 wards but reduce the number of councillors in each by one leaving 9 councillors in total with a councillor/elector ratio of 1:458

Once again I recommend that you visit the Historical Society Museum .... an Aladdin's cave.

Stay tuned.