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The first of a series of information sessions for anyone considering running in the local government election in September 2024 will be held at the Wyong Central Coast Council building on 18 October.
By Jacquelene Pearson
Central Coast Council Administrator, Mr Rik Hart, said he was “very, very, keen to see some good people” run for election as a Central Coast Councillor “when democracy, as some people see it, is returned”.
Mr Hart said, “This is an opportunity to come along. It is open to anybody and is an opportunity to understand what it is like to be a councillor, what are the responsibilities.”
Closer to the September 2024 local government election, Central Coast Council will be running “a couple of other sessions where we will be getting some ex mayors, not from this area” to address potential candidates.
“Participants will be able to ask extensive questions,” Mr Hart said. “Experts will be helping facilitate those discussions so I would urge anybody who is remotely interested to come along.”
The information sessions will be held at the Council building in Hely St, Wyong.
“We have contracted a guy by the name of John Reyner, I know him pretty well; he used to be the CEO for a long time down at the Southerland Shire Council and he has been involved in helping councils who have got themselves into difficulty.”
Mr Hart said Mr Reyner had not worked as an administrator for troubled council. He was, however, involved in the “fit for the future” process which resulted in the former Coalition NSW Government deciding to merge the former Wyong Shire and Gosford City Councils in 2016.
“He is highly experienced and obviously knows a lot about councils. He sees the other side of the political fence. He will talk as an independent person. I will do a little bit of background on where we are and where we came from,” Mr Hart said.
Planning is already underway for another two sessions for would-be councillors next year.
“At each one of those I am already hoping for a couple of mayors, ex mayors who have come from an independent background and put together teams of tickets and been long-term mayors in councils,” Mr Hart said.
Potential candidates will receive information about the process of getting elected, “how you do the handing out, what the benefits are of having a ticket with multiple candidates or being a solo candidate.”
The second and third sessions are likely to take place in March and July 2024.
“The last one will also make sure we cover off where our major projects are and what they might expect when they walk through the door.
“There will also be a Q&A, an extensive one, where they can ask the experts questions.”
At this stage Central Coast Council is expected to start a major promotion of the first event in coming weeks. Meanwhile, if you want to get to the head of the queue you could ask for more information via [email protected] or [email protected]
I’m interested to see if there is gender equity with the ‘experts’ Mr Hart will bring to tell us how things should be done. Let’s hope there is a gender balance and a spread of age and ethnicity with these guest speakers.