The performance of the current crop of Wagga councillors has been condemned by a number of their former colleagues.
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The Advertiser spoke to four councillors who exited council at the 2012 election – Clint Uden, Lindsay Vidler, Donna Argus and Wayne Geale – on Wednesday, with all four expressing disappointment in the performance of the current council. Kevin Wales and Ray Goodlass could not be reached for comment.
All four believe the current council – which pledged to end a culture of factionalism and sniping when elected in 2012 – has lost focus of what its priorities should be.
“They’re carrying on too much like an elected body that need to be voted in and they’re not looking after the organisation or ratepayers,” Ms Argus said of the current council.
“I just think the morale in the place and the way they’ve managed things has been appalling.”
Ms Argus, however, added she believed mayor Rod Kendall had “done a great job”.
Council has been beset by scandal in recent months. Its controversial $2.5 million loan to Douglas Aerospace – approved in the previous term of council – collapsed after the company defaulted on repayments and the ensuing debacle led to the departure of former general manager Phil Pinyon.
In recent weeks an agreement between council and Rex over a hangar at the airport has collapsed, while it was informed on Wednesday it had failed to secure any state government funding to upgrade the city’s levees.
Both Mr Uden and Mr Vidler expressed the view council should be focusing more on its core obligations of maintaining roads and keeping rates low.
“Our roads are a disgrace and they don’t seem to be getting the work and maintenance they used to,” Mr Vidler said.
Mr Uden, however, acknowledged council candidates who ran on strict platforms of roads, rates and rubbish were often uninspiring – leading to them running on platforms that “lose sight of their core business”.
Some of the harshest words came from Mr Geale, a former mayor, who said the current scenario of dysfunction among council near the end of its term had been repeated for the past “three or four” election cycles.
“I think the community consultation within Wagga has been abysmal and this promise of being open and transparent, I don’t think it’s been carried out by a lot of the councillors,” he said.