I HAVE been a councillor on the Northern Midlands Council since its inception.
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Helping create a financially strong and viable organisation that delivers improvements on infrastructure and facilities that our communities need.
I fully support the local district committees that we have in the Northern Midlands. I believe this is unique to our council.
These committees provide an excellent link to our different areas and communities and also keeps their uniqueness.
With your support, I will use my experience from many years of working with our communities to continue to deliver better outcomes for all Northern Midlands residents.
I believe the council must be run on sound financial management.
The budget must always be balanced with keeping rate rises to a minimum, ie. CPI or less increase. It is also important to keep the cost structure of the council tight.
All of this results in council being able to deliver on the needs of our communities.
Issues that affect our area include jobs, cost of living, including the cost of water and sewerage and economic development.
The substantial reduction of the forest industry has made the stimulation of economic development even more important.
I believe council must send a strong message to developers that we are open for business and the planners are there to help while making sure all statute requirements are met.
Agriculture is going to be where the greatest economic growth will come from.
There is massive investment under way, with the investment in water both private and public infrastructure.
This investment is now flowing on to farms and areas like the Powranna Road.
All of this provides a strong future for young people in our community.
Cost of living is a concern.
If people are to be encouraged to live in our area cost of living has to be addressed, including the cost of water.
TasWater is owned by the councils of Tasmania and I believe councils should collectively give TasWater the message that they should keep price increases to a minimum.
This will result in giving TasWater the mandate to build an efficient organisation that can comfortably deliver the capital improvements that are required.
We are going through a rebuilding phase that requires strong leadership making sure councillors and senior management all work as a team to help develop and maintain our communities.