I would like to congratulate the community members of goodwill running for council who were not discouraged by the current state of local government in NSW.
I am less enthusiastic about the $60,000 improvement order, which I am actively challenging in the Land and Environment Court and which was, sadly for ratepayers, initially denied injunctive relief despite its obvious flaws and incapacity to be delivered.
If anything, the Office of Local Government, as identified by the NSW Audit Office, is the mob needing an improvement order having breached the Act several times in issuing the order.
Hopefully, the LEC will see the same and remedy this.
To date, the OLG advisor has not been much help in preventing OLG overreach nor has he been able to properly direct the council at his first meeting to seek compliance with caretaker provisions!
The OLG is primarily responsible for the situation council finds itself in. It is the main clear and present danger to good governance.
As the senior governance officer (for Edward River Council) at the time of the last election and onboarding of the last council, I was able to witness the gradual change from a council that had goodwill and opportunity to deliver, to one repeatedly manipulated to be more interested in titles and other offices, than actually managing according to law and conventional wisdom.
This infected the entire administration and made good governance, eventually, impossible.
There was no deficiencies in the training, just a failure of management to embrace it and apply it fairly.
This is not to say these people are bad people but, once heading down a path of obfuscation the web of intrigue spreads and those raising legitimate concerns are ostracised and it becomes a situation where the person, rather than the issue, was played.
I have been in the sector for 35 years in a variety of roles from finance to traffic and parking management, contribution and asset planning and major infrastructure projects in town centre and place management roles.
I bring an unparalleled skill set to council and wish to restore its reputation and professionalism.
There is a difference between those who think they know it all and those who know and practice proper public administration.
As the only non-resident candidate who provides affordable housing for two pensioners and two ‘drive in, drive out’ essential services workers, I pride myself on being someone who was and remains invested in the future of Edward River and to ensure it is not forgotten by other levels of government that should be serving their fellow citizens.
All I ask is that you share that concern and vote wisely.
Yours etc.
Greg Briscoe-Hough
Edward River candidate
18°C