How many Aldermen does it take to run a council?

Over the past 12 months I have been actively pushing for the GCC to investigate opportunities for better management of our resources with other councils, review the level of efficiency within our internal processes and better manage our budget process.

I have had a few successes, but there have also been occasions where I haven’t been successful in creating change. At those times my take has been that most others around the council table have seemed reasonably supportive of the ideas, but have held off on a rationale of wait until a new general manager has been appointed – he’ll fix it.

Well – Glenorchy City Council has just appointed a new General Manager – and he has started. It is now time for Aldermen to stop putting off the hard issues and tackle them head on.

And while some of those issues are around council operations – not all of them are.

Do we need 12 Aldermen on the Council?

This is something that at our next council meeting I, along with Alderman Luke Martin, will ask the rest of the council. We’ve suggested in fact that council could reduce the number of Aldermen and still provide an appropriate oversight function and representation to the community – and save council money because of the reduction.

Other Tasmanian Councils are also reviewing the number of Aldermen and Councillors, and Kingborough Council has recently resolved to request a similar review of the number of Councillors on their Council.

We’ve had a change in role due to water and sewerage reform, so now is the perfect time to look at the number of Aldermen and see if we need a change.

As always, if I can help in anyway please feel free to give me a call on 0466 692 254.

Yours Sincerely,
Matt

A little bit of success
At last council meeting I was successful in two motions that I moved – one to have the council investigate joint tender opportunities for electricity and telecommunication contracts, and another to improve the budget process. Council approved a rate rise on average of around 7.5 per cent at the recent budget so it is important that we now look to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Aldermen will now have a greater say into the budget process, ensuring that no longer can any suggestion be made that they have not had enough input into the budget settings.

It is our job to take be accountable for the outcomes of the budget; and now this accountability will be strengthened.
Alderman Matt Stevenson, Glenorchy City Council