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by John Glover - Mayor-Elect

By the time you read this, the dust from the elections will have settled and we’ll have confirmation of who you have chosen to represent you around the table following what is probably one of the hardest ‘interview’ processes in existence!

To those who were unsuccessful, I know how you feel - I’ve been there three times previously and it’s a huge disappointment. But thank you for entering the fray and ensuring our community had a choice of candidates to consider. To those who were not re-elected, I thank you for your service to your communities.

My take away from the election is that if we are felt to be ignoring community sentiment, we do so at our peril. Standing in the shoes of others, understanding their needs, pressures and hopes has to feed into the direction that we set going forwards. That will vary from person to person, community to community and across ages and other demographics. Part of the ‘listening’ process has to be constantly asking who haven’t we heard from and how can we best reach them?

All of which makes it incredibly difficult to quantify. But that is what we will need to do as the new council starts to build the next 10 year plan in the coming months whilst ensuring the hard facts and figures of debt levels, budgets, pipes, roads, waterworks, parks, playgrounds and our environment are seen to act on that sentiment.

The issues that all candidates heard on the hustings were around trust, the cost of rates, how we engage and communicate, and the impacts of rapid housing growth without the things that are necessary to ‘grow well’. These impact every sector of our community. We must address all of these as matters of urgency.

Rebuilding trust and establishing better communications has to be first otherwise people will continue to disengage from the organisation and processes that will, at the end of the day, shape our district. We have to turn the understandable ‘why bother’ into “fomo” when if comes to voting in three years time.

Councillors understand this, and we will work to rebuild trust around the table and from the community. As a personal example, I will ensure my diary is public with details of who I am meeting and the basis for so doing. Baby steps on a long journey.

On a personal note, I am humbled that you have chosen me for this job, which is my first change of career in 25 years. This week has felt very much like the first day at school with a massive amount to take on board. But it was never going to be easy.