An abbreviated version of my submission to Alpine Shire Council on its draft code of governance was published in the Myrtleford Times and Alpine Observer on Wednesday as a letter to the editor.
It’s a shame the letter wasn’t printed a couple of weeks earlier to encourage other submissions, because I’ve been overwhelmed with the response.
On Wednesday I was called by a candidate for the last municipal election, who endorsed my views. Yesterday at a community meeting, several people approached me to also endorse the submission. One of them was a former chief executive officer at another council.
This morning I was rung by a current Alpine Shire councillor, who expressed frustration at the control exerted by the CEO over council proceedings.
A leading civic figure in Bright approached me this afternoon to say how poorly she felt the CEO had summarised my submission in the council agenda. She urged me to take this up with the council, despite my cynicism that this would have any effect.
A former Shire of Bright councillor called me to express similar views.
I received a personal letter today from a lady who congratulated me on the letter and referred me to materials published by Ratepayers Victoria. She suggested I provide a copy of the letter to this organisation for them to publish.
I took her advice and forwarded a copy to the state secretary, who responded:
"I agree with you wholeheartedly, and managed to get our Bass Coast Council to open briefing sessions to the public. It is an outrage that developers get to make private presentations to the whole Council. I don’t care if they lobby their tails off to individuals, but when there is a decision-making number present, that is a meeting, and the Local Government Act says it must be open to the public!"
It’s encouraging and reassuring to know that other people care about these issues. I thought I was fighting a lone battle there for a while.
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