Cost to ratepayers
NOW that the chief executive of Northern Grampians Shire is resigning and breaking her contract, how about council sue for breach of contract, which it clearly is and take the costs associated with securing a new chief executive off her final payout.
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If the chief executive had been sacked, I am sure she would have sued for wrongful dismissal, we wouldn’t want that to happen again. That amount is going to cost us, the ratepayers, a nice little sum of money so we are entitled to recover that impost, which is no fault of ours.
But, that will never happen with this weak ‘Fawlty Towers’ lot.
So, what great things have happened during this chief executive’s reign?
We have seen the North Park netball courts go from A grade condition to C grade and, sometimes, unplayable condition.
We have seen the closure of the local recycle plant and loss of 25 jobs.
There have been reductions in staff and services at Taylors Gully day care centre.
There was the million-dollar white elephant precinct building on the Western Highway.
Don’t forget the failed major roadhouse enterprise, a failed tyre shredding enterprise, a so far failed vegie growing enterprise and the dark matter experiment, which won’t reduce unemployment for Stawell.
Then there is the rundown of the leisure centre and contracting out of services, shops closing, families leaving the district and excessive high rates.
I could go on.
So when council decides on a replacement chief executive, please get someone with a bit of guts to make the hard decisions needed. Don’t appoint a local as the system wont change. Get away from the softly softly touch. Start by reducing staff.
No more jobs for the family and friends. Put in a decent coffee machine so staff don’t wander up the street at 9am each day or take a slow trip to Maccas.
Apparently there is to be three send offs for the chief executive, I would have thought one would have been too many but, what the hell, charge it all to the ratepayers.
One thing you can bet on and that is I won’t be there along with lots of others.
PETER GRAVESON
Stawell
History disappears
ON a busy corner along Baillie Street, a part of Horsham’s history is missing. Gone.
A church no longer there. A corner that just doesn’t look right.
It stood there for possibly 100 years and held many memories for me, my parents and grandparents before me.
For whatever reason I feel greatly saddened by its loss, and I am sure there are many others who feel as I do.
MARGARET SCHRECK
Horsham
Budget delivers little
THE state budget shows that the further you live from Melbourne the less you’ll get from the Andrews Labor government.
The budget makes some big promises, but actually delivers little. It will make almost no positive difference to the lives of rural and regional Victorians in the coming year.
The few major projects promised for regional Victoria will not get the majority of their funding for years and will take even longer to actually be completed.
A plan without funding is just a wishlist.
Rural and regional communities need infrastructure projects that start today, not five or 10 years down the track.
The Andrews government is also failing to deal with Victoria’s booming population.
While Melbourne’s congestion grows every day, there is no strategy to encourage people to move to and invest in our regions.
Regional Victoria is well-placed to welcome population growth, but without a strong vision from the government we will miss this opportunity.
PETER WALSH
Victorian Nationals Leader