It's time for a council restructure, candidate Stuart Pearson says

The lead candidate for Bathurst Matters raised the idea of a restructure during Tuesday night's forum.

READ MORE: Candidates say promotion is the way to attract new business to Bathurst

He said council's events, tourism, and economic development teams fall under different directors, when they should work together more closely under one.

"What I would propose is that, in the first 100 days of being in council, we restructure council so that we pull those bits and pieces out from all those tiny little pockets and we create a new directorship, a director of business and economic development," he said.

"That person, male or female, will have the direct key performance indicators (KPI) of attracting businesses into Bathurst, retaining businesses in Bathurst, working with the chamber of commerce to create a live, living marketing scheme that works well outside of Bathurst, and to reduce red tape for small to medium sized businesses."

He was not alone in his opinion, with solo candidate Steve Semmens saying it was "exactly what we need".

However, if elected, they could have a hard time of convincing the council.

General manager David Sherley said it would be a matter for the new council to decide, but warned that a similar position did not have the desired effect previously.

"Council has previously had a separate directorate for the economic development function and this occurred for a number of years, however, council subsequently determined that better results would be achieved with the economic development unit with the structure that was put in place and currently exists," he said.

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