Five hours - and council still can't vote
on cutting numbers
Sunshine Coast Daily
08.12.2006
By TOBY WALKER
CALOUNDRA City still has 10 councillors running the show –
for now.
Almost five hours of debate in the chamber wasn't enough to
help councillors reach a resolution on the controversial
proposal to cut their numbers from 10 to six.
Amid renewed rumblings of an amalgamation with Maroochy
Council and with a State Government deadline looming, the
decision was arguably one of the most important in the
council's history.
But after at least $3000 in ratepayers' money was spent on
the wages of council's top tier executives sitting around
ready to ratify or reject a decision, the move did not even
reach the voting stage.
To the rolling eyes and general bewilderment of
a packed public gallery, councillors opted instead to drop the
debate, which had started just before 10am and continued until
3.30pm, in effect putting the decision on hold until council
returns from its Christmas break on January 18.
Earlier, councillors opposed to the reduction complained
there had been no public consultation and worried a smaller
council would have fewer checks and balances in place to deal
with the complex decisions expected to arise with Caloundra’s
large-scale growth in the coming decade.
Each councillor who spoke in opposition received rapturous
applause from the 90 or so onlookers - the busiest gallery all
year.
Visibly frustrated at times, mayor Don Aldous said the
reduction had to happen to show that council could look after
its own business without interference from George Street.
He insisted council did not need to spend money on public
consultation because the State Government would do it next
year when it assessed council’s proposal.
A group of Maleny residents who patiently waited for a
resolution never got it.
They weren't the only ones.
Buddina residents angered by the spectre of high-rise
development in their beachside suburb arrived with placards to
protest council’s draft Local Growth Management Strategy.
They wanted to see the deadline for submissions on the LGMS
extended and waited in the gallery to hear it confirmed.
They were long gone by the time it came up for discussion
well after 5pm.
Meanwhile, Noosa Mayor Bob Abbott has completed the chorus
line of Sunshine Coast mayors looking to give their council an
extreme makeover.
Mr Abbot said he believed Noosa Council could lose two of
its nine councillors and still feasibly represent Noosa shire,
with increases in local government costs being the main factor
driving his support.
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