After 18 years Kiata farmer Darryl Argall has hung up his boots as a councillor. He spoke to LAUREN HENRY about life in local government and what the future holds...
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DARRYL Argall approached his life in local government, both with the former Dimboola Shire and current Hindmarsh Shire, the only way he knew - with passion, toughness and vigour.
But at 58 he is ready to take a back seat.
Mr Argall reflected on his time in local government this week, in his first week off after 18 years as a councillor.
"It's very, very strange not to have to go to at least three or four council-related meetings. I haven't had any phone calls but I've still had a few other appointments for other jobs," he said.
Mr Argall said he joined council after peer pressure from his Kiata neighbours, and years of community work with football and cricket clubs, silo and hall committees and a member of the cemetery trust.
"One of my neighbours, the late Mervyn Warrick, was a previous councillor, in fact he was a Dimboola Shire west riding councillor for 36 years, so my 18 years is nothing compared with that," Mr Argall said.
"My father Lawrie was always a good organiser and leader in the community; he was never on council but he was a brilliant strategic thinker and planner. And that's something I've prided myself on, thinking strategically.
"You need to be able to look at the bigger picture. You need to represent your own people but if you can't see the bigger picture you will never be able to achieve and work with other people."
Mr Argall said his two terms on Dimboola Shire Council from 1989 to 1995, including one term as shire president in 1992-1993, were different from his years on Hindmarsh.
"That was a completely different set-up, we had four ridings with three councillors each to cover half the area of what we do in Hindmarsh. And we had a lot more councillor input with shire engineers, we would go out on road inspections with them," he said.
"One day we went out on a road inspection and I said `there's a pot hole there that needs fixing' and he said `no it doesn't' so I turned around and went back over it doing 80 or 90 kilometres an hour and he literally nearly hit the roof! He said `okay, okay, maybe it does'."
Mr Argall said Jim Sleep, Ken Sleep and Tom McQuilton mentored him in his early years as a councillor.
"They were tough old buggers and they used to make me work," he said.
Mr Argall said it took about 12 months before he learned to speak his mind on council.
He said council meetings would sometimes get a bit heated but everyone got along.
"We would always go for a beer afterwards, no matter what happened," he said.
After amalgamation Mr Argall soon moved up the council hierarchy.
"Me being me and always wanting to be at the top of the pile I wanted to be mayor," he said. "So I got the support of four of the six councillors and served three terms as mayor."
Mr Argall stepped down from the mayoral role for four years and then came back to serve another four terms.
"I've been in the top job for eight years and it gets tougher and tougher to keep our communities up for change, especially with the drought," he said.
"I soon realised a lot of our problems were the same as our neighbouring councils."
Mr Argall was also North- West Municipalities Association chairman, Municipal Association of Victoria vice-president and on the Australian Local Government Association board.
