Working for Shire cured me of politics
SOMETHING came over me and then I ran for council …
They say negotiating the bureaucracy of local government is like steering the Titanic: slowmoving, frequently unresponsive and you have to avoid regular icebergs like the financial impact of rate capping or the constant outcry over unpopular decisions.
I say negotiating council is more akin to steering a ship balanced on a surf ski: It’s not just slow and cumbersome, it’s also at the mercy of the waves — those often unstable, frequently untenable relationships within the council chamber.
One day you have an ally and the next you have an enemy for life.
Relationships are the cornerstone of local government. And it’s not just your relationship with other councillors and the executive, it’s their individual relationships as well.
Surf Coast Shire council between 2012 and 2016 was one of the most cohesive that council officers had seen. (At least that’s what they told us.)
The community might beg to differ but I honestly believe we never embarrassed ourselves, as is often the case.
We almost always agreed — in the 1000-odd decisions we made during our term, we voted 9-0 in probably 80 per cent of them.
We were far from perfect, though, as those community members fired up about Bells Beach, Lorne Men’s Shed and the Spring Creek development will attest.
However, it was the Torquay pool — which council did not support due to the predicted annual running cost of more than $500,000 — where we faced a level of belligerence by a small group of people that was almost intolerable. The irony is that in principal we supported the pool. We just couldn’t justify one financially.
If I learnt one thing as a councillor it was to have a thick skin. Without it you’re floating in a sea of self-doubt and wondering what the hell you’re doing. I only wish we delivered a pool. Made it our legacy. Council coffers would have suffered but perhaps we should have just absorbed it somehow.
I think our greatest achievement was putting environmental leadership on the agenda. We were fiscally conservative and socially liberal and I liked it that way.
When problems arose, we solved them behind the scenes.
I was lucky enough to be acting Mayor for a short time — at 37 I was the youngest to hold that seat at Surf Coast — but it wasn’t enough to drive my ambition and push for a second term on council and a likely tilt at Mayor.
I didn’t stand for re-election. One term was enough for me, thanks.
There are only so many meetings, egomaniacs and trivial complaints a person with a short attention span and low tolerance for bulls--t can handle.
Anyone who tells you there is no such thing as party politics in local government is ignorant or in denial. Swinging voters among people at this level of community participation are rare.
Contrary to popular belief, councillors don’t have much power. Some think they do. And certainly act like it, too. Elections attract all manner of personalities looking for some sort of public glory. But very few young people. Communities are frequently burdened by big fish in their little pond but in reality, every councillor is just one vote around a table.
The sad thing about council is that it’s hard work with little reward. And the tide can turn so easily. I loved that bunch of crazy coconuts, and now spats — like the one about the rainbow flag — has erased all the good work we did together.
I’m lucky that I can count on an important few of those councillors as lifelong friends. The rest … well, the rest are a lot of self-serving lunatics who make the bile rise in my throat and remind me why I got out of politics in the first place.
I can’t escape the fact that I was a politician but I have now developed a distaste for politics and a loathing of politicians. Eve Fisher is a former Surf Coast Shire councillor based on the Surf Coast.