Administrator's term is far too long
I noticed Ian Weekley's recent article in the Forum section of your paper and have similar concerns regarding local council administration accountability.
However I would like to highlight my fundamental concern which is that the council administrator's term is far too long.
The Central Coast councillors were sacked in October 2020 and I understand the election for replacement councilors will be in September 2024.
That is nearly four years without our locally elected representatives and right now we still have to endure another 14 months.
In a very basic way, I understand the mismanagement and dire financial circumstances that lead to the councillors sackings in 2020.
However, I would have expected the democratic replacement of our councillors would have been one of the highest priorities for a state government, with a much shorter time-frame warranted, even pending important council process improvements, and during covid times.
I have emailed our new local Labor State member about the possibility of bringing the date closer for Central Coast Council elections but I quickly received a response saying there was nothing they could do and the date was locked in for September 2024.
Prioritising our local democracy is all I ask.
SOURCE:
Email, 17 May 2023
Stephen Kitchener, Koolewong