Challenging, exciting, daunting with a hell of a lot of obstacles in the way. That’s how the Whitsunday’s first female mayor describes her first month in the top job.
"It hasn’t even been a month! But it has been totally enjoyable. Obviously there are people putting obstacles up out there but I don’t see them as obstacles … instead I grab hold of them and use them as a learning curve," said Mayor Jennifer Whitney.
Having many years’ experience in local government, including three terms as a councillor, the mayor says her role is a lot more "hands on" than she thought and was pleasantly surprised so many people wanted to actually speak with the mayor.
During the past four weeks, Mayor Whitney has been meeting with delegates from mining and rail companies, receiving updates on all the major developments projected for the Whitsunday region.
Council meets in Proserpine on Wednesday, June 13 where it is expected the mayor will hand out a portfolio to each of the councillors.
"This is a whole different style of government and I hope people embrace it and move with us. These portfolios will challenge the councillors in a way we mightn’t have been challenged before. They won’t necessarily be in their comfort zone but the community has an expectation that we as paid councillors work for our money. I am not saying we haven’t done this in the past, but we will now be accountable," she said.
The mayor also touched on boat ramps, the controversial block of land Havengrand and de-amalgamation.
"We need an all-weather place for our boaties. We are such a huge boating area "Our registrations prove this but at the moment we have no pontoon at VMR which the boaties want. I believe the rock wall study is almost finalised so we will be looking at that shortly but at the moment the best option is getting Port of Airlie boat ramp up and running as soon as possible," she said.
The mayor touched on Havengrand saying it simply hadn’t been discussed yet by the new council but the matter would be put on the agenda with a view to leasing it out.
"It wouldn’t be viable at the moment to sell it, because we paid far too much for it in the first place ... but at least we should look at leasing it out. By having someone on the land it will help with the maintenance," she said.
And finally de-amalgamation.
"There has been the rumour of de-amalgamation but the decision will come down to the minister and any area that wants to de-amalgamate will have to prove it is able to support itself.
"The people in Collinsville haven’t even given this new council a chance."
Mayor Whitney met with the Guardian in her Proserpine office on Monday morning.
"There has to be an acceptance by management that I am the mayor, and that we need to go on this journey together, to create change for the betterment of the community, for the whole region. I have been voted in to bring about that change.
No comments:
Post a Comment