Councillors’ final reflections

End of term: South Gippsland Shire Councillors Jim Fawcett, Kieran Kennedy, Jennie Deane, Mohya Davies, Jeannette Harding, Mimmie Ng, Bob Newton and Warren Raabe had their last meeting as a council yesterday (Wednesday).

ANOTHER council term is over and South Gippsland Shire Councillors took the chance to reflect on their term at their final meeting yesterday (Wednesday).

All councillors celebrated their achievements, as well as issues that could have been handled better.

Cr Jim Fawcett, who was mayor for the first two years of the term, said he was proud to work with all his fellow councillors.

“Each of you in your own way have brought new things to the council,” he said.

“There are some things that we’ve done really well, some we’ve done less well and some that we’re not so proud of.

“I wish you all the best of luck.”

Cr Jeanette Harding agreed with Cr Fawcett and was excited about the future for her town Toora.

“A little town has light at the end of the tunnel now thanks to the Toora factory,” she said.
Cr Bob Newton thanked all of his fellow councillors.

“I’d like to say thank you to all the councillors for their help,” he said.

“And I’d like to thank the staff; I really appreciate the hard work that the staff here do.”

Cr Kieran Kennedy reflected on the major achievements of council.

“Standout things we have done as a council are the Rural Land Use Strategy and the moratorium of coal seam gas,” he said.

“I’m confident that the next council will do a fantastic job.”

Cr Jennie Deane said that the past four years had been good for local politics.

“We are all independent councillors so there’s no party politics,” she said.

“That’s extremely good for local politics.”

Cr Deane said that she enjoyed teasing out the issues with her fellow councillors.

Cr Mimmie Ng echoed the sentiments of the other councillors.

“I feel comfortable in leaving council to the incoming council and staff,” she said.

Deputy mayor Cr Mohya Davies, continued the reflective mood.

“It has been a privilege to work with the council and be a face in the community,” she said.

“And as deputy mayor it was great to represent the council at various local government meetings.”

Mayor Cr Warren Raabe was the last to speak.

“I’d like to thank Cr Fawcett for his time as mayor in the first two years of the term,” he said.

“We have faced some different problems but I am very proud to have been on council in this time.

“I think we have lead to a better organisation and feel comfortable passing it on to a new council.”

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Posted by Jacob De Kunder on Oct 25 2012. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry