AT the risk of stating the obvious, the council election about which we have been talking, listening, arguing, pleading and cajoling is about to happen.
However, I believe that this one will be crucial.
It could well be a statement about whether or not the notion that a good, functionally democratic and socially responsible policy concerning the development of resources does exist within the administrative structures of this shire and is not just a suspect, glib set of ‘wannabe’, ‘could be’, and ‘maybe’ statements that the administration and its servants trot out at election time.
It will also be a statement about whether we will have to continue to live with another passive council, or have one that has the power and the will to be a counter balance to the present administration.
That is, an administration which suffers from a fixation about the collection of rates and the feeding of pet projects – to the detriment of community structure, care and welfare.
It will also give some indication as to whether or not this shire would be better off if it was run by an administrator.
Personally, for all the above reasons and because of their stated policies, I am attracted to the group that is made up of Ronald, Owen, Billing-Smith and Drinkwater rather than that of Runge, Cox, Radford et al.
Evan Laidlaw,
Pakenham.