While the association believes that Cr Dodds is as entitled to her views on issues as anyone-else, it rejects entirely the notion that she has a right to try & impose her views on the community she & her colleagues were supposedly elected to serve.
More than three & a half hours into council’s last ordinary meeting, councillors found themselves dealing with the perennial question as to whether they should resolve to increase their fees. With the exception of Cr Dodds, councillors resolved to decline any increase in their fees.
“We would like more diversity.
We would like to see more young people in these roles.
We would like to see more young women in these roles.
I would be absolutely love to see a young Indigenous woman in this role, but the remuneration as it stands is so pitiable it makes it very difficult for people from low income backgrounds to do that.”
The association cannot be certain on whose behalf Cr Dodds claimed to be speaking. If it was other councillors, none acknowledged the fact. Perhaps she was referencing some in our community who might share her views? Only Cr Dodds would know.
Needless to say, the association rejects the notion that the primary qualification for election to council should be gender, age, ethnicity, religion, eye colour, dress or diet. The association believes that competence, integrity & a commitment to serving the best interests of the entire community are the most desirable characteristics that the community should look for in deciding who to elect as councillors.
And while there is no doubt that there are those in our community who would share Cr Dodds views, it is entirely a matter for the community to decide at the ballot box & not Cr Dodds, her supporters or sympathisers, or any other member of the current council.
Apart from anything-else, the association does not for one moment accept that any member of the current council is competent, let alone capable of making recommendations for candidates at next year’s council elections.
The association believes that, with the possible exception of Crs Nadin & Bain, the ongoing chronic mismanagement of council’s financial affairs has not only acted to discredit council’s general manager, but the elected council itself.
The association also believes that if some councillors, including Cr Dodds, had spent less time trying to use council as a platform to pursue their pet hobby horses & had focused more on the issues confronting the council & the community, perhaps council & our community would be less financially challenged than currently appears to be the case.
While posing as a bushfire victim outside Parliament House in an over-sized Driza-Bone might thrill the easily led, others might see such behaviour as no more than shallow self-promotion.
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au