So far I have attended several workshops (one even lasted over 6 hours) one full Council meeting, a meeting of two committees and a meeting of the audit committee. I was elected Chairman of the Finance and Administration Committe and one of 2 members of the Audit Committee.
My impressions so far is that there is a massivee amount of material to be read (I expected that so no problems) but the administrative support given to Councillors is wonderful - thank you Maria Barrett and Merran Palmer.
Some other impressions that might be cause to worry about the direction and intent of some people. There seems to be an obsession with secret ballots even to elect Deputy Chairmen of Committees. Let's be open and show people how we vote and then they will understand if there are alliances in Council.
I also have the feeling that "everything is set" and nothing can be done so us new guys just need to settle down and realise how good things are and what a great job Councillors have done to date. Now I accept that, generally speaking, the city is in good shape but surely improvements can be made and at least some things can be done better.
As a new Councillor what I can do at this stage is ask lots of questions and you can be sure I will. In the next couple of posts I will show you some of the questions I have asked. I will give Councillors the courtesy of showing them first.
By the way, if you have any questions, contact me and let me know.
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