Dorset councillor Peter Partridge contemplates his 40 years in local government, including 17 years as mayor.
Dorset councillor Peter Partridge shows no signs of tiring of his role as a community representative, despite serving for more than 40 years as an elected member, 17 of which as mayor of Scottsdale and then Dorset.
When Cr Partridge filled a casual Scottsdale Council vacancy he served the final few months of retiring councillor Merv McLennan's term before facing his first election.
That was in November 1972, and Cr Partridge is now one of local government's elder statesmen, having served the North-East community for more than 40 years.
``I expressed an interest in the position and reckon I must have been the only one who did because I took up the vacancy,'' Cr Partridge said.
``I was elected in my own right in March 1973 and have served continually on the Scottsdale and then Dorset councils since.
``I don't know that there have been any great achievements, but what I always did was try to look after the municipality.
``We've go a fair bit of infrastructure to look after - we have 109 bridges in Dorset and 750 kilometres of local roads, so there's quite a lot to look after.''
Cr Partridge said that Dorset's biggest challenge was probably trying to service its infrastructure off a relatively low ratepayer base.
``You have to try to balance out your rates across the municipality - you have to try to keep your rates down as low as you can, but you also have to be able to maintain your standards,'' he said.
There was no hesitation when Cr Partridge was asked what he would like to see happen.
``Well I would certainly like to see the `local' retained in local government - I think it's very important that local government remains local and doesn't become a large regional government and then, political,'' Cr Partridge said.
``It's important that rates collected in a particular area are used in that area - I think that when areas get too big, money seems to be spent where the votes are, not necessarily where the infrastructure needs it. While I certainly believe that councils can work together and share certain things, I don't believe that any more amalgamations are necessary.
``I would also like to believe that local government will eventually get constitutional recognition - it's very important.''
And more people needed to be prepared to serve in local government, he said.
