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Plains Producer
$1.40 Bank Bank SA SA Best Country Best Country Newspaper Newspaper 2007 2007
Wednesday October 27, 2010
STAR OF THE NORTH
A special message from the Plains Producer urging those eligible to...
Bank Bank SA SA Best Country Best Country Newspaper Newspaper 2007 2007
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST CRUCIAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS IN A DECADE: Plains Producer
VOTE
EDITORIAL
T
Terry Williams
HIS week residents eligible to vote in local government elections are faced with a series of choices. The first is to do nothing. To ignore the voting pack and with it an opportunity take decisive action in electing your representative to Wakefield Regional Council (WRC), District Council of Mallala (DCM) and Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council. To not vote when you have the opportunity is apathetic and uncaring; your indifference shows you clearly deserve what you get and therefore have no right to complain about council’s actions. We need open and fair local government and this newspaper urges incoming councillors in all wards to have their say, not only in meetings but through our columns. What is the point of being in council if you are not willing to give a public opinion? How else are residents to know why you think that way – or if, indeed, their choice of councillor was good or bad. We make this plea because the Plains Producer, despite council websites, newsletters and the like, in reality remains about the only popular information source for most residents. In WRC’s Central ward five candidates will contest what is looming as Balaklava’s most important council election for many years. Of the five, four are farmers or retired farmers. Nothing wrong with that in an area which owes its very heart and soul to farming – though they will be conservative. But at least they will be optimists – otherwise they wouldn’t be farmers. It is optimism and opportunism we require at all councils over the next four years, but
Owen Chapman
Dick Harrison
David Lamond
Roger McQuire
Maurice Tiller
Important for all towns, but for Balaklava a chance to really move forward. Can the Central ward candidates meet the challenge? most importantly at WRC, where it has been something of an “annus horribilus” for both elected members and council staff. The staff are often between a rock and a hard place, trying to placate ratepayers and councillors and run a very tight budget tinged with red. It is no easy task and the troops do remark-
council’s aims. It is the new council which must now move on. The Evans debacle is done and dusted; the Port Wakefield CWMS issue is all but resolved. Learn from these and proceed without future meetings being clouded with acrimonious sledging and finger-pointing. Get on with the job of delivering growth
All the candidates: Pages 8 – 11 ably well with the resources they have. But all decisions ultimately must have the imprimatur of the council and it is the elected members who must show leadership of and for our community; not necessarily the council staff, who are there to facilitate
and services, as achieved by past councils which have given us Hayfield Plains and Wattle Ridge – the first real developments in Balaklava for many years. Now we need a new council with similar vision, innovation and inspiration. We need a
council which recognises all towns but which realises Balaklava is its major growth centre. We need councillors who will be decisive and not procrastinate. We need councillors who will set their own targets and not necessarily accept what is dished up to them. Whilst council’s officers cannot be anything else but open and accountable, we need more of that in the chamber. For example, did you know at one of its last meetings before going into “caretaker mode” WRC voted to consider legal action over unauthorised use of land in the Avon area. This information can be found on council’s website in the minutes of the July 28 meeting. But that’s all we know. It was voted it should be discussed in confidence. n TURN TO PAGE 8
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