MOST ratepayers are still shaking their heads that Bathurst Regional Council is forking out $8000 per month for a temporary fence to keep in a few hundred kangaroos on the Mount. That amount, however, pales into total insignificance with council proposing to spend $1.5 million of ratepayers’ money to purchase a two-acre property on the Mount.
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This is on top of council paying $710,000 for a one-acre property on Conrod Straight in November 2015, and more recently paying roughly $400,000 to buy and then demolish a property on College Road.
I fully support council purchasing “strategic” larger parcels of land on the Mount that will allow for the extension of existing facilities or for improvements such as viewing mounds or enhancements to access during events for residents or, indeed, the proposed second circuit.
I do, however, question the benefit of purchasing one and two-acre properties set among other private properties.
Are these properties being purchased from profits generated within the Mount Panorama Fund or are these properties being purchased through the General Fund?
If it’s the latter, council should advise ratepayers of the objective of the strategy.
Surely, residents from the Mount are not that difficult to get along with that council has to spend another $30-$40 million to buy all other remaining private residences to fix the problem.
Two sides to the story?
SO Gary Rush is gone as a councillor and mayor, but is there more to this story?
Once upon a time, being caught drink-driving was the ultimate family humiliation.
But today, going 0.066 (a very low reading that, frankly, any of us could do with a slight underestimation of alcohol consumption) is hardly a reason to resign, despite the mayor saying all the right things in the media.
Clearly there are two Gary Rushes.
One is a very presentable, articulate, smiling and seemingly competent now former mayor of Bathurst, but the other had a reputation for being autocratic and overbearing.
And then there were the criticisms about his business dealings.
The DUI charge, I think, is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Amid all this I wonder whether Cr Rush managed to undo any of the goodwill he may have accumulated since becoming mayor in 2013.
We need diary details
THE resignation of Ian North from the position of deputy mayor prior to Christmas remains unexplained.
Cr North’s election mantra has long been transparency, but there has not been transparency regarding his stepping down.
Currently, unlike ministers within the State Government, councillors are not required to publish a diary of meetings with constituents in any month.
This, I believe, should be mandatory. It would make interesting reading.
Thumbs up
BURTON Contractors have all but finished the Sydney Road upgrade a few months ahead of schedule. I think they have managed the disruption well.
Thumbs down
LOCAL Government Act not requiring councillors to publish who they are meeting. So much for transparency.