Clarke: Please put your hand up

AHorsham councillor who has represented her community for almost two decades has urged people passionate about their municipalities to consider nominating for local government.

Cr Pam Clarke, who joined Horsham Rural City Council in 2002, said it was important that people believing they had something positive to offer across a four-year tenure, put their hands up for elections later this year.

She said strong values and passion were basic requirements for anyone to become a local government representative. “Everything else will fall into place,” she said. With local government elections scheduled for October 24 this year, Cr Clarke will step down from Horsham Rural City Council after completing four terms.

Her time on council equates to 14 years as a community advocate and representative, including stints as mayor.

“I have really enjoyed most of my time on the council and would encourage people passionate about the community who want to see it progress to nominate,” she said.

“It’s important we get good ethical people standing. In Horsham we’re on the precipice of great things and unless we have good people who are positive and have a community vision we won’t be able to seize opportunities.”

Forever evolving

Cr Clarke also stressed the importance of having a broad cross-section of people on councils.

“It’s important that people realise they don’t have to know everything,” she said.

“Councils and communities are forever evolving and that’s the way it should be. Even now, I’m still learning.

“Representative diversity is really important in any council.

“Local government is about bringing people with different backgrounds and different ideas together. If you don’t have different ideas around a table, you don’t have good debate.

“I encourage people from all backgrounds and ethnicity and women to put up their hand.

“Everyone qualifies – it’s not an issue of status or position.

“It might be someone who is a labourer or an administration worker or someone at the head of a large organisation. We need people from all backgrounds.”

Cr Clarke said being a councillor opened opportunities for personal growth and leadership as well as satisfaction knowing the effort was targeted at municipal socio-economic health and vitality.

“You get a good understanding of what makes communities tick and, for example, the importance of volunteers, and how local government has to work within State Government frameworks,” she said.

“I’m a much different person now than I was when I joined the council in 2002.”

“In Horsham we’re on the precipice of great things and unless we have good people who are positive and have a community vision we won’t be able to seize opportunities” – Pam Clarke

Four-year commitment

Cr Clarke said people considering nominating should be aware they were making a four-year commitment, which would require developing a broad understanding of many issues.

She said a potential pitfall was people wanting to join a council based on a single-issue platform.

“You learn very quickly that having a willingness to have broad overview as part of the community commitment is fundamental,” she said.

“Otherwise the risk of quickly becoming disillusioned is high and it just won’t work.

“There is a requirement now for prospective nominees to do some training of which people shouldn’t at all be frightened. It simply outlines a need to understand the role.

“And while it does require a high level of commitment, things have changed in local government in the nearly 18 years since I became a councillor – when expectation was for councillors to each be on 10 to 15 community committees as well as performing their council duties.

“The process is very modern now and there is an understanding that people also have other lives and commitments.”

The make-up of Horsham Rural City Council is likely to change dramatically after the elections, with some councillors having announced or considering plans to step down.

Mandatory

A mandatory Horsham candidate information session will be at Horsham Civic Centre at 5.30pm on August 5 or 10.30am, August 22.

Nominations open on September 17 and close at noon, September 22.

Information for prospective candidates across the region is available on Victorian Local Governance Association website, vlga.org.au.