No one in Bathurst gave the proposal any serious consideration, however, there was plenty of fire in the belly among the residents of Oberon, who didn’t appreciate being told the merger would be good for their long-term future.

It was interesting to see Bathurst mayor Gary Rush and Bathurst Regional Council general manager David Sherley portray a passive approach to the proposed amalgamation in the Bathurst media, stating on numerous occasions that they would do whatever the minister believed was the right thing, or words to that effect.

I’VE said it before and I’ll say it again: it may be easy to change a boundary line and create a new council, but how do we change systemic inefficiencies in local government? 

Just last week I experienced an excellent example of what is wrong with the mindset in local government. 

I sent off a brief email to a staffer with a simple question. When the response took longer than expected, roughly six days, I fired off a blunt email, copied to the general manager, suggesting courtesy would suggest that I should have at least had a reply by this time. 

The response was prompt: he’d been crook and he thought, considering the “10 day organisational response time”, his six day response was acceptable. 

Crook I’ll accept as an excuse (no out of office automated email response was set up on the email address, as would be the norm), but a “10 day organisational” response time is totally unacceptable given the private sector norm is 48 hours. 

If a ratepayer were to report a major water main failure on the corner of William and Russell streets, would there be a 10 day organisational response time? 

LOVE or hate new US President Donald Trump, one statement of his will ring long and loud for decades. That was his threat to “drain the swamp”, referring to members of the class in the United States who believe they are born to rule. 

Well, I believe this mood is also evident within Australia, where recent polls suggest a massive one-third of voters will vote for parties other than Labor or the Conservatives. 

Locally, while I appreciate being elected to local government is a totally thankless role, I believe there is also a mood for change, so it will be very interesting to see who will renominate for council in the elections in September.

CONFIDENCE in the Bathurst region is sky high after two developments before council received approval last week: a large residential DA in Havannah Street and a commercial DA at Westpoint.

BATHURST Regional Council having a “10 day organisational response time” to ratepayer inquiries. What a joke! The private sector has a 48 hour turnaround.