By DANE LILLINGSTONE
Deputy Mayor Ross Bartley has opened up on his views on the current direction of the Southern Downs Regional Council, declaring a change is needed.
“On the 19th of March hopefully we will a have a better style of council. We need a better style,” he said.
In recent general council meetings, Cr Bartley has been a vocal supporter against council’s lease policy along with Councillors Vic Pennisi and Jamie Mackenzie.
The three of them were the only ones who voted against deferring council’s controversial lease policy in the September meeting, the three councillors were also the same ones who voted against deferring it in the August meeting.
They were also the only three councillors that voted for a special council meeting with GrainX staff regarding operations in Allora in the August meeting.
Cr Bartley believes that a solution to the council’s lease policy should have already been reached.
“We’ve had this information for two months. How much longer do we need this to go on?” he said at the meeting.
“We seem to have targeted the seniors. I’m happy for them not be charged anything. To hit them with $750 a year, I think is ridiculous.”
In a wide-ranging interview with the Southern Free Times, Cr Bartley stressed the need for an openly communicative local council and one that worked hard to engage in relationships with State Government and open more opportunities for funding.
“How often do state politicians come out here?” he said.
“We need to build better relationships with State Government and politicians.”
When the topic shifted to officers of council, he also stressed the need for CEOs to be uninvolved in the political scale.
“The best CEOs are completely apolitical. The CEO decides what goes on the agenda,” he said.
Cr Bartley discussed how the general business portion of general meetings had been threatened to be removed in the past, but stressed he would not let that happen, declaring his support for a transparent political system.
“I will always have general business on the council agenda,” he said.
Cr Bartley also addressed the current debt levels and said he believed that council was still paying back debt from the first amalgamation in the early 1990s but said it was not all doom and gloom.
“It’s not unmanageable debt,” he said.
Many residents in the Southern Downs will be hoping that a decision on council’s lease fee policy will be reached at the October general meeting.
