’Aloofness, anonymity’ of council must not be repeated

LETTER: It seems the days of council representation providing a juicy, second income for a part-time job are over

The Gympie Regional Council 2020: Bob Fredman, Dolly Jensen, Shane Waldock, Jess Milne, Bruce Devereaux, Mayor Glen Hartwig, Warren Polley, Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon and Dan Stewart

Letter to the Editor

There is a perception in the community that the recently elected council is a hard-working and cohesive group.

Indeed, one new councillor has publicly declared a working week of 60-70 hours and, even at that, believes he might be “letting the side down”.

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It seems the days of council representation providing a juicy, second income for a part-time job are over. Only good can come of that!

Gympie council under Mayor Glen Hartwig: Bob Fredman, Warren Polley, Dolly Jensen, Shane Waldock, Mayor Glen Hartwig, Bruce Devereaux, Jess Milne, Dan Stewart and Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon

It would be helpful though if councillors were to inform their employers, the ratepayers, of the location of their offices during working hours from Monday to Friday ,together with telephone numbers to enable the making of appointments.

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That, together with the promised twice-yearly public meetings with their divisional constituents, would go a long way toward avoiding the culture of aloofness and anonymity that characterised the previous council.

If the fore-mentioned information has already been disseminated, I apologise for having missed it. And I would of course be grateful to be directed to it.

Merv Welch, The Palms

Editor’s Note: Phone numbers and email addresses for the mayor and all councillors can be found on the Gympie Regional Council website

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