It has been an honour and a pleasure to serve our community as Mayor for the last six years and I am extremely proud of what we have achieved over this time.

I wish to thank most sincerely the hundreds of people who have either contacted me or spoken to me and wished me well for the future. It is really wonderful that the community is so appreciative of the work we, as elected councillors, undertake.

It is pleasing to see that there is a wide mix of candidates putting their names forward for election on September 10. Congratulations to you, and I wish you well. You will find working as an elected member of council to be a very rewarding, satisfying, but sometimes a challenging period of your life. I urge you all to stand up for your beliefs, whilst respecting the relevant legislation relating to Councillor conduct, and ensure that you do the very best for the whole community you are serving. It is a tough job, and will take many hours, but as I previously said – you will enjoy it.

I am somewhat surprised, however, to see that Robin Saville has re-nominated. It is now proven that Robin Saville breached council’s code of conduct, and the NSW Local Government Act. The only reason he was not prosecuted was because he resigned. Mr Saville also acknowledged, via this newspaper, that he had breached the law.

How can the new council ever be assured that items that need to and must be dealt with in a closed session of council will remain confidential, should this candidate, if elected, who has been proven to have disclosed information from a closed session, do so without fear of that content being released.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council is a successful organisation that has lots to achieve and has maintained a high level of credibility with State and Federal Government. I ask all voters to bear the above mind on election day.

Once again thank you all for your support; I feel obliged to make these comments because I want to leave my legacy and the future of Goulburn Mulwaree Council in the hands of good, honest and trustworthy community focused people.

So come on. Own up.  Who was the idiot(s) who decided on and approved the concrete median strip in Bourke St?

Bourke St between Clifford and Clinton used to be an easy moving, mistake forgiving, easy access street which was pretty easy for all ages to use and access the professional businesses in those blocks.  We almost had a four-lane road with the parallel parking.

Firstly we had the change from parallel parking to angle parking and although that took away a third of a car-width from each side of the street, it was manageable as, if someone was backing out or another car was waiting for someone to vacate a parking space, following traffic could usually get around by slipping past in the centre of the road without causing drama to oncoming traffic.  And the extra parking was probably worth it.  But now it’s the same as Auburn St: congested.

We must remember that emergency services use this part of Bourke St as their main south exit from their depots in Clinton St.

Since its construction at ratepayers’ enormous expense, all we have noticed is a much more congested, often jammed traffic conditions and we have noted, too often, the emergency vehicles stuck behind a person backing out or a slower elderly driver or truck who cannot escape the lane. This busy but previously calm street now has had a boom in aggressively honking horns and verbal advice to some drivers. We also note quite a number of people tripping up when crossing and people wondering how they turn into St Saviour’s from the southbound lane.

On enquiring of councillors I was told that this median strip was put there for pedestrian safety; no doubt to reduce the massive car accident and pedestrian death toll in Bourke St. Then I was told that it was not council, but the RMS who did all this! Strangely, an RMS colleague says definitely not. Look to the council for this white elephant.

In business hours it is most difficult to turn right into Bourke St from Bergmark St (from the medical clinic or Lilac Theatre) without a few scares as southbound cars jump out from behind angle parked vehicles.

Northbound delivery trucks turning right from Bourke into Montague St have long lines of cars banked up behind them as the cars cannot get past. Southbound vehicles turning into Church St have the same queues behind them as well.

And to top it off council seems to have made a major investment in ‘NO U TURN’ signs just to further render the street totally vehicle unfriendly.  

To me it smacks of someone having a few dollars left in the bickie tin, so let’s use it before we lose it and make it look like we are very busy people.  This is the classic bureaucracy justifying their existence with something that no one seems to want. I haven’t found anyone who thinks it a good idea yet.

The money would have been far better spent on day-long vehicle parking facilities for those who work in the Goulburn city centre. I was told that the car park behind the council offices is available public parking so there’s an alternative for we city workers. Give it a go.

So, just bulldoze the strip or I will put in a development application for a median strip coffee takeaway. There’d be enough room for it and plenty of time to buy in the slow traffic.