Please consider my letter to the editor, writing as an ex Kiama Councillor 

Howard H Jones

I would like to acknowledge Peter Stuckey, a wonderful long-serving Kiama Council environment officer, who passed away last week. Peter was a caring community minded staff member who used his skills and considerable knowledge of our local environment to develop well informed Council plans and policies.  

I also note the letter to your paper by our long-serving ex-Council engineer, Noel Edgell, outlining reasons why Council should keep historic Barroul House in community ownership, a plea that no longer has fertile ground to fall on.  I remember that Noel’s staff had the expertise to do large Council managed urban developments in Kiama and Gerringong that addressed community needs and generated much needed Council income.

I don’t think that many people are aware that Kiama Council will shed 200 loyal staff members, or around half its workforce when the Blue Haven sale is finalised. These are staff that have provided services for the sick and elderly across our community for decades.

The ongoing decimation of Council’s work force over the last decade has come at a high financial and social cost. Local knowledge, expertise, skills and continuity has been lost, disillusioned staff members have left, community connections have been severed and much of Council’s collective understanding of the place we live in has evaporated.

Council staff no longer have the skills or opportunity to do the job they once did, even though the Council budget has more than trebled since the time I was a Councillor in the 90s. Policies and plans are now undertaken through external consultants who invariably provide generic, tic-box outcomes that have little local relevance. The Kiama Vegetation Study and the Crown Lands Management Plans are just two shocking examples of flawed consultant developed studies and plans that underpin decision making yet are not fit for purpose.

We have to put the ‘local’ back into Council planning and policy development, wind back the flawed, expensive consultancy culture and rebuild the staff expertise and skills that have been so casually jettisoned by Council management if we are to return our Council to an efficient professional institution.

Equally disturbing is the punitive treatment of Councillors who dare to question poor Council processes and decisions. This is particularly alarming because potential Council candidates will be discouraged by the ugly personal behaviour of the Mayor and CEO, as they witness how dissenting Councillors are signalled out, censured, undermined and disrespected.

The next Council election is an opportunity for a complete over hall of this terrible leadership culture.  I only hope that there are community minded candidates who are still willing to put their names forward and who understand the basic tenants of good governance (transparency, accountability, professional processes, inclusive practices, financial literacy, democracy and respect for diverse viewpoints).

Howard H Jones (Ex Kiama Councillor)