Secretaries Comments August 2014

Hi everyone,

Pauline Rowe
Secretary of LCIT

Well where do I start with this month’s Council meeting:

Firstly the agenda and associated booklets were bigger than War and Peace so I thought we were in for a huge night, not so, the meeting was all but done and dusted by 8:15 pm. Would like to hear Greens comment on the amount of wastage of paper these Council meetings generate. I know we need to be informed but there were a lot of documents left at the end of the meeting, surely there must be a better way to disseminate information in this electronic age.

It was a lack lustre meeting and after “the restructuring process” Council staff looked tired, dejected and the mood and morale was very low. Councillors (of which 3 were not in attendance) still managed a few lively debates over some IHAP matters. One of those was a proposed boarding house in a residential cul de sac in Miller by a private organisation for short term transitional residents? There were very little details provided on who was responsible for the dwelling, who the short term residential residents proposed to be living there were, how the site would be managed , why was there only 2 car parking spaces for 11 boarders ?  The question I have here is if this was a half-way house for short term residents why wasn’t there government involvement. To me personally it sounded like a profit making exercise with little control over who would be living there and how it would be managed. I feel very sorry for the surrounding residents if it was approved. The matter has been deferred to allow Council further discussions with the developer.

One of the concerns I had during the night was one of the matters that were supposed to be carried over from the previous meeting namely the appointment of community members to the Badgerys Creek Taskforce didn’t rate a mention as to what was happening. Have they forgotten how to communicate?

Another major concern I currently have with Council is they seem to be very free with yours and my rates and money seems to be flowing everywhere but the core purpose of a Council and that is roads, rubbish removal and providing services.

Certain ethnic groups within the community are receiving vast amounts of grant monies (one group were awarded $20,000 and another $8,000) and yet some of our essential services such as Rural Fire Services were denied grants and our public schools are receiving poultry amounts of $500 (for more details on this item it is detailed in the draft minutes from LCC).

This brings me to another hot topic called “Branding”,  Liverpool Council have already spent a considerable amount of money on the brand “Liverpool Council” – In short, it is a way of marketing and trying to change the perception of what people think of Liverpool as a brand.

I can see where they are coming from in trying to promote Liverpool as a good place to live and to encourage developers and business  into Liverpool, however, I am not in agreeance with an open cheque book mentality with our money. An additional $200,000 was granted to promote Liverpool and I would like to know how it is being spent without rate payers input. Our roads have been declared as some of the worst in the State and it has been documented that less is spent on our roads than any other Council.

Maybe it is just me but I would like to see our roads upgraded and maintained, our streets cleaned on a regular basis, our city environment enhanced with a “coat of paint” and some flowers and maybe appearing like a well ordered clean city might help people’s perception of Liverpool and attract more residents and business to it. Food for thought folks, we should all put our feelings on the “Liverpool Listens” if you get the basics right first then move onto promoting our city.

Well, hope to see all residents concerned with our Council at our next meeting on Monday 1^st September, commencing at 7:00pm.

Kind Regards