Bell tolls for Lex as the Gold Coast’s longest political career ends in March

THE Gold Coast’s longest political career is over, with Surfers Paradise councillor and former mayor Lex Bell confirming he will retired in March.

Lex Bell has announced he will end his 30 years of public life and will retire from politics in March. Picture: John Gass

THE Gold Coast’s longest political career is over, with Surfers Paradise councillor and former mayor Lex Bell confirming he will retire in March.

The 70-year-old, who was first elected to public office in 1985, will not recontest his Glitter Strip seat, sparking what is expected to be the tightest race at the local government poll.

Widely respected by his colleagues and community groups, Cr Bell said he was ready to take life easier after decades of public service, including two terms as mayor.

“I will not be contesting the March council elections and I have been very happy in this council which has worked well,” he said.

“However, I recently celebrated my 70th birthday and while I could perform another term in office, I would be approaching 75 years old at the end of that and I may not have the energy and good health to be able to do other things.

“I have seen too many people continue to work until they could not do anything else and I did not want that to occur to me.”

Cr Bell, a lifelong Coast resident, said he planned to travel and enjoy a long holiday after the busy four-year term, during which he served as the deputy chairman of both the planning and economic development committees.

While political retirement beckons, Cr Bell said he would likely resume practising as a lawyer in a limited degree and enjoy life out of the spotlight.

More than 31 years after he was first elected, he said the city had changed significantly.

“The world has changed a lot and people are much less considerate for each other and less respect for authority,” he said.

“However, I think the community is now more prepared to be involved than sit back.

“People are now more likely to make their views known which is a positive.”

Cr Bell said highlights of his career included being sworn in as mayor in 1988, swearing in Tommy the sea lion from Sea World as an Australian citizen in 1991 and working to preserve the Gold Coast as a city during the council amalgamation of the 1990s.

“Becoming mayor was quite an event and quite an achievement and something I will always remember,” he said.

“I have seen a lot of things change but I think I am leaving the Gold Coast a better place than it was when I was first elected.”

In recent years he worked closely with incumbent Mayor Tom Tate to dump the council’s “view tax”.

Cr Tate, who counts his predecessor as a close friend, yesterday paid tribute to his years of service.

“It has been a privilege to serve with Lex in this council and he has always been a voice of reason,” he said.

“It was comforting to have a former mayor serve with me as a councillor who has been both a friend and mentor and I wish him all the best in his much-deserved retirement.”

Lex’s final legacy head pleaseta

A TRUST fund will be established by the council today to lock in millions of dollars to fund planned pedestrian bridges connecting Chevron Island to Bundall and Surfers Paradise.

Funding for the bridges is being collected through developer contributions from towers proposed by the council, including a 44-level project which was approved last year

The fund was proposed yesterday by Surfers Paradise councillor Lex Bell in what is expected to be his last major policy push before his retirement in March.

It received unanimous support from the planning committee and will go to full council for approval today.

The move would quarantine the funds from being used on other projects.

Cr Bell said he hoped to ensure the upgrades would go ahead in the future and would boost connections between the area’s major centres.

The public life of Lex Bell

LEX Bell has loomed large over public life for more than three decades.

In March 1985, at age 39, he was elected to the old Gold Coast council as the councillor for Surfers Paradise, serving under the administration of Mayor Denis Pie.

Three years later he was mayor himself.

During his two terms in office, from 1988 to 1994, he oversaw the Goss state government’s decision to amalgamate the Gold Coast and Albert Shire councils, as well as the development boom of the era.

After two terms Cr Bell retired as mayor and returned to being the divisional councillor for Surfers Paradise, during which he led the campaign to de-amalgamate the councils.

In 2001 he retired from council and became the independent MP for the once National Party stronghold of Surfers Paradise, serving one term until 2004.

For the next eight years it looked like Lex Bell’s public career was over but he made a stunning comeback as a councillor in 2012.