A former mayor has recently come out and declared that all his good work had been undone by the current Council. Also, he seems very upset that there are no overt political allegiances within this local government structure.

May I remind him that politics should play no part in local government.

It is important we don’t have a Council trying to deliver party outcomes for the city. Local government has and always should be a democratic environment, for the people and with the people of the community.

Here I must remind you that there are two sides to every story.

The former Mayor’s story seems to focus on himself, and how he was hurt by apparent actions. This seems to mirror his latest run in local government, where things were done his way or no way at all. He refused to raise rates, or only marginally, so he could remain popular. This meant the current council had to restore the economic balance of the Council and the community. His refusal to look into the problems behind the management of the Civic Centre, Outback at Isa, and Buchanan Park, which led to huge costs to the community in the form of rates. This meant that the current Council needed to restructure the operations to ensure economic viability of the venues.

The former mayor remains upset about the closure of the Lion’s Youth Camp and the Frank Aston museum.

The other side of the story is the Lion’s Youth Camp was reopened without a business case. It was unsafe, generally unusable, and would have cost this community an incredible amount of money to restore. I admire his vision, but in this case it appears more about the front page news than a real outcome for the community.

A similar story for the Frank Aston museum and surrounding area. It is the number one hotspot for vandalism, drug taking, and other criminal activity, and is structurally unsafe in a great number of areas.

While it is nice to think we can protect and preserve history, it has been neglected for too long, and inherited by this Council, who have made the tough decision to close the site and instead funnel the funds back into the community, the roads, the parks and our existing and well used facilities.

The horse paddock leases that the former mayor admitted to initiating were handed over to lessees, some of whom took free reign of the properties, bought and sold the land, and were involved in profiteering from what was always state owned land, while the former mayor turned a blind eye.

We can no longer accept this form of governance. People must be held accountable, including me.

I did not become Mayor to become popular. I knew I would always receive criticism at times. The decisions that myself and my Council make will not always be popular, but it is what has to be done, for the continued growth of this city. If we did not instigate forward momentum, there would be no future for the community.

While I can accept criticism for decisions made by this Council, I am a member of this community, it is my home, and it is everything that I love.

My children and my family are members of this community, and I am in this position because I want to make a difference and I want to make it a better place.

I could go on with examples, but I won’t.

I am supported in this Council by my fellow councillors and staff who go above and beyond to provide excellent facilities, upgrades, events, and opportunities for the community, and our feedback from the vast majority is they want to continue to see these changes, they want to continue on this path of forward momentum for the city. It’s something that hasn’t happened in a while, and we are excited about the future.

Mayor Joyce McCulloch