Council Candidate Forum
Bridport Innovations President Jill Vandenbosch addresses the crowd at the start of the event at Bridport on Sunday.
Rates, rail trails and tourism opportunities were key topics raised by some of the 70-strong locals who attended Sunday’s Bridport Innovations Candidate forum.
Another candidate forum is being organised by Futurelinks Gladstone and will be held next Wednesday, October 14 at 6.30pm.
Ten of the 11 candidates running for the seven seats on Dorset Council were in attendance on Sunday, with Cr Anthony Richards an apology due to being in Western Australia to compete in woodchopping championships.
Every candidate was given the opportunity to answer each question presented from the floor after they were allowed a three minute introduction to outline their platforms.
Below is a section of questions and answers from the forum with the remainder, including opinions and statements on the Board of Inquiry, available for viewing on the North-Eastern Advertiser website.
Rates
Bridport resident Jeff Jennings asked whether Councillors would support a comprehensive review to ensure the system was more equitable.
Beth Donoghue said a review has never been undertaken, and she would advocate for one because there was a discrepancy for farmers being able to claim their rates on tax when home owners can’t.
“There are a lot of aged people in our community and it is becoming unaffordable.”
Cr Vincent Teichmann suggested that Council could be more generous with its rates remissions and also had resources to put a rates freeze on properties where the owners were facing financial hardship and only charge for the extra rates when the property is sold. We do have to take some action.
Cr Jan Hughes said the important thing to remember was the main income from Council is rates and charges and if they were decreased or put on hold, other services would have to follow suit. She said it would be a good debate for a new Council to have.
Cr Merv Chilcott said he was fully in support of a review but said rates had been forced to grow as a result of a reduction in Commonwealth grants. “When I first joined 13 per cent of the Budget was from Commonwealth grants and that has reduced to 1.5 per cent this year.”
Cr Leonie Stein said a review was warranted as it hadn’t been done during her previous 15 years on Council. “Without increases, it is hard to maintain the level of services the Council has been giving the community over time so that needs to be kept in mind.”
Grant Lethborg said the Valuer General revaluations had seen property values grow, which exacerbated the rate rise imposed afterwards.
Rail Trail
Bridport resident Ian Goninon asked about the Rail Trail – suggesting the cost would have now grown to $20 million to complete, compared to the $5.1m estimate provided by a consultant last year, and an ongoing cost of $200-300,000 per year. Mr Goninon suggested the Council ditch the project and pass it on to a larger organisation with more expertise to complete.
Cr Rhys Beattie: “Yes, there is a maintenance cost with obligations as rail corridor managers but at the moment there is no plan to spend any money unless we get funding to help. But it is all about opportunity. The cheapest time to build it is now because it is only going to get more expensive. A project like this will bring a lot of visitors to the North East.”
Cr Vincent Teichmann: “I agree the price tag is hefty for these economic times and while it would be nice to see it done and benefiting people, but I am not sold on the business case. I’ve been advocating for the existing trail to be extended to Legerwood and Branxholm via a route that does not impact any sensitive land tenures that people don’t want exposed to tourism. A trail through to St Helens on gravel roads with signage for people to choose their own adventure would come with a lower price tag to test the vision.”
Adam Hall: “I am an avid Rail Trail user and as many cyclists we can get off the road I am in agreement – what is the price of a life? If we could be in agreement to run it to Lietinna and turn the railway station into a camp kitchen with toilets and an RV park I think it would be a great thing for the community.”
Jan Hughes said the 27km section from Tulendeena to Billycock Hill is managed by Rotary Club of Scottsdale and it does not cost Council anything. “It leads me to suggest there could be other groups that might be interested in taking small sections of the track to do something similar when it is the right time to do it. This is an opportunity to give an incredible boost to the community if and when the time is right and it is not money that will come from Council coffers, it will have to come in grants.”
Board of Inquiry
Bridport resident Lawrence Archer asked if every candidate had read the findings of the Board of Inquiry thoroughly and asked for a brief comment on the findings.
Beth Donoghue: “Yes, I have read it from cover to cover. We learnt a lot. One of the reasons I resigned from being on Council afterwards is I didn’t believe we should draw a line in the sand and go forward. We needed to address the shortcomings of the council and hopefully that has been done. We have an Act we need to abide by.”
Scott Auton: “I have read parts of it, I haven’t read all of it. I look into the future. It has happened and it wasn’t a good look for our community. I think we have got to move on. We have got to buckle down and good governance is what it is all about. We need the right GM and work as a team and be open and transparent in all the decisions we make.”
Cr Jan Hughes: “The past is for my learnings and the future is where the development is. A lot of people were really personally hurt. Our Councillors, our staff, people in the community. I had to go before the Board and it was extremely intimidating; they were extraordinarily dismissive. I am not going to let that experience be negative to my future development and what is going to happen to the community in the future. We can all work together to move on.”
Cr Rhys Beattie: “Yes, I have read the report. A lot of the findings were sectoral problems and not just Dorset problems. But, there were obvious wrongdoings and my personal view is if everyone had been a bit kinder it would have avoided the Board of Inquiry and the problems would have been dealt with in a more equitable manner that didn’t cost the community a lot of money.
Cr Merv Chilcott: Yes, I have and it is quite extensive. There was a gang of five that bent the rules and some they broke completely. My disappointment was that there were no charges to come out of it. We have got to live with it and we have to learn from it and I look to the future and I refer back to it quite often in what we can do and what we can’t do. The biggest criticism they gave of me was that I didn’t ask enough questions so since I have gone back to Council I have made sure I do.
Leonie Stein: Yes, I have read it and my view is a bit different. I found the whole thing appalling and it became targeted in my opinion. I have reasons why I believe that, but it is pointless bringing it up now. There were people included in the inquiry that did absolutely no wrongdoing. Even though I was named they didn’t find me guilty of anything which I am proud of. Greg (Howard) was bagged but I can honestly say, apart from Barry (Jarvis) I have never known a mayor with such passion for the North East and I will always stand by that. There were also people on there, which didn’t come out, and it was their agenda to bring the council down and get rid of certain people and they probably succeeded. But the time has come to move forward. It has taken me 18 months to stop the anger and the bitterness. I am moving forward.
Grant Letborg: Yes, I have read it and I think we should forget about it and move on. And learn from it that’s true but I think it is over.
Cr Kahlia Simmons: Yes, I have read it. When we got stood down it was a very scary experience especially for me when I had just been re-elected. I came back when we were reinstated, I did my learning and never stopped wanting to be a part of the future so we all need to move on.
Cr Vincent Teichmann: I have read the report and I felt there were instances where the Council didn’t treat people fairly. I think in order to move on those people need some sort of restitution. It took Kevin Rudd decades to apologies on behalf of the Federal Government to apologise for the stolen generation, it took the State Government decades to apologise for what has happened to children in State care here in Tasmania and its hopefully not going to take decades for this Council to actually apologise to the people who were identified as being wronged in some way. I have tried to move a motion in Council but it wasn’t supported. Unless we learn the lessons and change the culture and make sure Council really works for everyone and treats everyone fairly through transparency and accountability and people taking responsibility for what they have done or not done then the lessons haven’t really sunk in and the culture hasn’t really changed. Hopefully we are moving in the right direction and with the new General Manager and new Council there will be green shoots and everyone moving in a positive direction, but we have to stick to the principles of good governance.
Tourism
Bridport Visitor Information Centre volunteer Jenny Whenn asked about candidates’ visions for tourism in the North East given there is no full-time officer employed by Council.
Scott Auton: “The experiences in the North East are so great and we have to encompass it as a full tourism showcard. Twenty years ago we did have a full-time tourism officer, and things were pumping back then and that has dropped off. I know the Chamber of Commerce is working hard to implement a tourism strategy. I think we have to get our walking tracks up to speed, the priority is Blue Lake as we have to get car parks and toilets up there.”
Beth Donoghue: “(A tourism brochure/book) is a product and tool that could be developed to keep people in the Dorset region a lot longer. For each town and each area you could produce a publication to have it at people’s disposal and electronically and give it to our information centres to use as a tool. The economic plan released recently by the State Government included a wellbeing centre announced for Northern Tasmanis but didn’t say where the Crown Land will be released. Why not here? There is a lot of Crown Land in the North East. So this is where we need to work together to bring it back to our area.”
Cr Rhys Beattie: “The plan the chamber is working on with Council and Visit Northern Tasmania (VNT) is a Tourism Marketing Plan and there are so many cool things to do there were way too many actions on that list to work out where to start, so one of our actions as Council is to get that plan in bite-sized pieces and then it will come out to you for community consultation and that is where pamphlets and other visions can be driven from. Bridport Innovations do a great job with the Scallop Fiesta and you see what that brings in the winter time so my vision is to 100 per cent support all events. We pay VNT a significant sum of money so maybe we need to be leveraging into them a bit more to push for getting our value and if we don’t think we are getting enough out of them, we might need to go down the path of a staff member but once again that comes at a cost.”
Cr Mervyn Chilcott: “We need more industry, more houses, more people and the tourist industry is probably the easiest one to develop in the North East. I congratulate Bridport on what they do with the Scallop Fiesta and the Lions’ Car Show and Shine and that could be developed more across the municipality. More support for the Spud Fest in Scottsdale and that type of thing is great along with smaller events that can bring people in for the day. Scottsdale Caravan Park can get up to 70 people a day and the majority only stay for one day. Imagine the success if we could get them to stay longer. I have been trying to nudge the Council along with the new Spirits arriving and we haven’t done very much really but we have got to do it to make it one of our big industries.”
Cr Jan Hughes: “Advocacy. It is Council’s job to advocate for the community on all sorts of things. One of the places could be Parks and Wildlife on Blue Lake because it is not a Council space. That is often where you find the brick wall. They don’t have any money, the same as us. We all have to advocate for the North East. We are all tourism officers. The way we treat people who come into the community. If we are those officers, we will get people talking and word of mouth is by far the best recommendation so get out there with your best tourism officer manners on and get those people coming back. They will come back for the hospitality and the friendliness that they receive in our community.”
The Dorset Mayoral Race
Ballot papers have arrived in letter boxes as Dorset residents are faced with the choice of two mayoral candidates and a total of 11 people vying for the seven Councillor positions.
Voting is compulsory with packs required to be returned by 2pm, Tuesday October 27.
Incumbent Mayor Rhys Beattie is facing a challenge from Scottsdale’s Adam Hall to lead a new-look Council.
At Sunday’s candidate forum in Bridport Mr Hall said his focus was on securing a strong General Manager with a private business background. He said the Sideling upgrade was stagnant and wrapped up in bureaucracy.
He said the focus areas for growth in the region needed to be agriculture, forestry, aged care, wind farms, manufacturing and fishing.
A major issue for him was what he described as “concerning and underwhelming customer service” with planning matters.
“We need to eliminate the ‘too hard basket’ and replace it with a ‘what we can do for you?’ mentality. We need an efficient and effective and less disproportioned body corporate to get the area moving and give the ratepayers value for money.
“I will not be a puppet for the body corporate.”
Cr Beattie said his mantra had been consistent, approachable leadership during his 18 months as Mayor following the Board of Inquiry, when a steadying ship was needed to bring Dorset back to be respected.
“I feel I have brought calm and created a team environment which is important in Local Government,” Cr Beattie said.
He highlighted rejoining NTDC as a highlight as the organisation is leading important planning scheme change discussions with the State Government.
Cr Beattie said the Council’s cash position was positive, there was a solid Long Term Financial Plan and it was important not to cut costs “willy nilly”.
“I run with the theory that you will not save your way to prosperity. You need to make good and practical decisions for the whole community.”
Retiring Councillor Wendy McLennan pressed Mr Hall at Sunday’s meeting on statements he made recently on ABC radio about the General Manager and that “Dorset is a basket case with no development and a lack of progress”.
Mr Hall said speaking with people around the community, it was definitely a challenge to progress items through Council planning.
However, Cr Beattie said: “We have come from a point where we were cutting some corners in planning to make things happen and we had a Board of Inquiry which had a lot to do with that, so we are following the scheme in front of us.”
Priorities and financial management plan
Dorset Council candidates were asked three questions following the Bridport candidate forum.
What is your priority area for Council action? What do you propose to do to reduce the forecast budget deficit? What items would you like to see actioned in the first year of a new Council?
Scott Auton Priority areas are the appointment of the General Manager – crucial to the future; economic growth through new/expanded industry and tourism, and housing availability, including new build possibilities.
Aim to increase income into Council through encouraging new rateable buildings through housing and industry growth and increase income stream through grant opportunities through both Federal and State. They’re available we just haven’t been securing them.
I’d like Council to fund a website for the Dorset region, including upcoming events, businesses, accommodation, things to do. A one-stop-shop for locals and visitors alike. Tourism builds communities.
Rhys Beattie The priority is ensuring that outcomes from current master-planning give clear direction, inspire the Dorset community and provide both opportunity and confidence in our region to retain and attract people and stimulate the local economy.
We should start with an asset review and have the difficult discussions and take action in regards to what assets council should or shouldn’t maintain and own. The upkeep and depreciation on underutilised assets is a major contributor to our budget position. The Bridport structure plan is a priority and I will be advocating for it to be completed next financial year as promised. We want to see actionable outcomes from the Municipal Tourism Marketing Strategy, we have a lot to offer in the tourism space.
Mervyn Chilcott The priority is to get a General Manager who is competent in Local Government maybe even out of the private sector and is able to live in Dorset. We have had a series of management and staff who have done nothing to get out and meet the people of Dorset. We need industry, people and houses with the tourism industry probably a priority and most likely easiest to promote in the short-term.
The deficit is not a major concern considering the state of the nation and financial climate but not be allowed to deteriorate. The debt to the State Government for the Inquiry was budgeted to be paid over two years has now been negotiated to be over three years. This will be of benefit. Minimising expenses and retaining income will help but ensuring services are not lost.
Get the Tasman Highway on the go. We are losing many opportunities industry wise and tourism wise as well as not having the people who commute daily to have a safe road to travel on in a shorter time.
Strongly consider fitting turnstiles at the swimming pool with credit card facilities to allow locals cheap admission and visitors from out of Dorset a reasonable price. Review the rating system for fairer cost to all over the municipality.
Beth Donoghue To ensure the financial and economic stability of Dorset including attracting sustainable investment in development and businesses specifically to create ongoing local employment opportunities and thereby strengthening the survival of local communities and towns. Ratepayers cannot be expected to carry the burden, therefore reduce the deficit through rigorous expenditure reviews, better asset management, strong grant applications, actively promoting development, new businesses and investment to expand Dorset’s economic activity and future revenue base.
Cut the budget deficit, strengthen State Government department relationships, reduce development approval times, build stronger relationships with our community and establish a Dorset Development and Investment Group to actively identify and promote economic development, business and employment opportunities throughout the Dorset municipality.
Adam Hall The priority is to streamline the Development Application process to fast track Development Application approval and also concentrate on superior customer service for Dorset ratepayers. With the deficit I would like to pursue, if possible, to recoup Board of Inquiry expenses and perform a Body Corporate staffing level review and make cuts where necessary.
We need to attract the best possible General Manager for Dorset, preferably from the private sector.
Jan Hughes Our highest priority should be to begin the recruitment process for a new General Manager. Recruiting the appropriately experienced and skilled individual is crucial.
Realistically it may need to be cuts across the board while pushing for savings wherever possible in capital projects. Budget variations will need to be carefully scrutinised.
In the first year I would like to see 1. Stronger, more vocal lobbying for a decision on the Corkery’s Road debate. 2. Decisions on planning issues - Identifying potential industrial and residential land areas for Bridport and Scottsdale where this is urgent. 3. Complete, detailed documentation of our Asset Register to enable strategic decisions on ageing infrastructure to be made and communicated to our residents for comment.
Grant Lethborg As a Councillor if elected I would like to see a cut in spending which might mean some planned expenditure needs to be put on hold. I’d like to see if we can find another business to come to Dorset. My priority for Dorset is jobs and one example is the Scottdale Defence Research facility that needs someone to take over. Maybe on the back of the great job Scottsdale Pork do, we could do the same with beef and lamb.
The budget needs to be balanced I am sure if elected we can find another way to save. I think before I ask to fix anything in Dorset we need to know what position the Council is in, but on my wish list is the Bridport jetty, the road to Launceston needs to be pushed hard and the Scottsdale swimming pool fully fenced just for a start.
Anthony Richards Work on reducing unnecessary spending in and around the Dorset Municipality with the help of community members and councillors.
Work in conjunction with all members of the community, Council staff and Councillors to find alternative ways to reduce spending on not so “urgent “ works, then bring these jobs back online when the deficit is reduced.
Review and reduce spending on infrastructure assets that are no longer needed or used by the community and work on getting our Community Master Plans completed for the purpose of getting our subdivision up and running, creating employment and housing.
Kahlia Simmons My priority is making sure Council is listening to the community, making responsible decisions and delivering services that people can rely on. I think Council needs to review the current user-pays system to make sure it’s fair and sustainable, while also carefully reviewing spending and looking for efficiencies to help reduce the deficit.
I’d like to see real progress on our approved master plans and key community projects, along with continued improvement to local infrastructure and services.
Leonie Stein Priorities are planning and zoning matters and to ensure Council processes development applications more efficiently and with the appropriate urgency.
To seek a firm commitment from the State Government to repair Waterhouse Road, as promised after the wind farm was completed, over 10 years ago.
It is difficult to recommend specific measures without first understanding the Council’s financial position in detail. However, I am confident there are opportunities to reduce the deficit, including through outsourcing.
My first-year priorities would be the same as those outlined in response to Question 1.
Vincent Teichmann The priority is to improve Council interactions and consultation with all sectors of the community, especially those who are dissatisfied. Transparent, accountable, responsive, inclusive and equitable governance by Council, providing efficient, value-for-money services.
Investigate if the costs of the Dorset Council Board of Inquiry can be recovered from persons who caused it, instead of ratepayers footing the bill. Scope the budget for items that could be deferred, such as resurfacing the Bridport Hall and Aquatic Centre carparks for $150,000 and $85,000 respectively.
In the first year offer flexible rate deferral options for anyone in financial hardship, value the efforts of community groups in achieving and delivering their grant funding obligations, educate councillors about all Council assets, liabilities, incomes, expenses and plans and recruit a new GM who will hopefully choose to relocate to Dorset.