Taylor-made solution

Huon Valley commissioner seeks suitable candidates

HUON Valley commissioner Adriana Taylor says she will identify potential council candidates for the municipality’s next election and give them a platform to build a public profile.

Huon Valley ratepayers have not had elected representatives since October 6 last year when Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein sacked the council after a Board of Inquiry found it was beset by conflict and terminally dysfunctional.

The council was then given six months to “get its act together”, to no avail.

Ms Taylor said she hoped to uncover suitable candi- dates and then hold workshops providing information for prospective councillors while outlining their responsibilities under the Local Government Act, on behalf of the community.

“They [the community] deserve the best,” she said.

“They deserve good, elected representatives that do a good job for the council.

“But as I have found in local politics, people who have a reputation and have a profile get elected.

“So what I’m hoping to do is identify a number who are willing to stand and are very good for the community and then give the community the opportunity to meet them and ask what their views are.”

Huon Valley ratepayers will then go to the polls in October to elect their new council, in line with ocal government elections for the state’s remaining councils.

There was speculation that a Labor Party proposal was planned to bring earlier elections to the Huon Valley, but Ms Taylor stepped in to block the move.

She emailed members of the Upper House asking them to block any proposal to go to the polls early.

“What is happening here in the Huon is a very smooth transition from one council to the other,” she said.

“It’s taken a year for the senior management team to bed in and start to change the culture and that could be all affected by a new council coming in [to] interrupt it.”

Meanwhile, Glenorchy will go to the polls on January 16 to elect its new council after Treasurer Peter Gutwein sacked that counci last week.

Its Board of Inquiry report is due for release this week.