THERE\u2019LL be a half-familiar name on the North Ward ballot at next month\u2019s municipal election with David Harris, cousin of current Central Ward councillor Mark Harris, set to nominate as an independent.<\/p>\n
Yet those familial links don\u2019t count for a lot, with the new comer citing the recent State Ombudsman\u2019s report, and all councillors\u2019 role in creating the environment for it to occur, as a reason for his push to get elected.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone in public office needs to be held to account for their record,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sits as a record for each of those councillors currently. It\u2019s up to them to answer, but it\u2019s a criticism of the entire council, I\u2019m not isolating any particular person.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy reaction to the report was disappointment and shock. While I would be at times critical of the council and officers, I would never have supposed that what\u2019s in the report was actually going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
In making his pitch to voters, Mr Harris listed his achievements on the Miners Rest Primary school council, where he was president for six years, as evidence of his ability to work collaboratively with different levels of government.<\/p>\n
Stating with gaining support for a kindergarten at the school and progressing to a $21 million overall upgrade, Mr Harris said he worked across party lines to get the best outcome for the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy being transparent and playing a straight bat we were able to convince people we had a good thing and it was based on evidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth sides ended up promising us essentially the same thing. Now we\u2019re going to start breaking ground and building a new school that\u2019s triple the size of what we have.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the 15 people on that school council worked together and were A-political, we achieved so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what he wants to put on the agenda, Mr Harris said progressing town plans for Cardigan Village, Learmonth, and his home of Miners Rest, along with urban renewal plans for Wendouree and Ballarat North were all on his radar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been constant delays, in my knowledge, over the last seven years to the Miners Rest plan,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we really haven\u2019t had a proper township plan in place since the 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at budgeting for the outcomes of those plans, I\u2019m not necessarily seeing anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese separate communities and small townships around North Ward have done all this work, now where is the budget to facilities the delivery of those things?\u201d<\/p>\n
Feeding back into his experience with Miners Rest Primary School, and as a dad with young children, Mr Harris see space for improvements in access to the City\u2019s child and maternal health services.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the metrics that early childhood is measured, our children score reasonably low in terms of their at-risk cohort as they move into primary learning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the kind of thing where I think, righto, maybe that\u2019s something as the service provider, the City of Ballarat needs to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said that ability to work with key stakeholders is also reflected in his day-to-day job as Assistant Chief Fire Officer with the Country Fire Authority.<\/p>\n
Starting as a volunteer two decades ago, he\u2019s risen up the ranks into a paid position.<\/p>\n
And while Mr Harris has worked on few municipal boards, like the Community Impact Special Committee and Grant Allocations Committee, all things considered he doesn\u2019t expect that local government experience will give him much of a leg up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever get\u2019s in this time round, with the directors and structures having changed, and whoever the new CEO is, well, some of that past knowledge is going to be useless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole mechanism of how that place is going to work hinges on the people and the process and policies they bring in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will help a little bit but probably coming in with a broader understanding of how the public sector works is, that\u2019s going to be key to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THERE\u2019LL be a half-familiar name on the North Ward ballot at next month\u2019s municipal election with David Harris, cousin of current Central Ward councillor Mark Harris, set to nominate as an independent. Yet those familial links don\u2019t count for a lot, with the new comer citing the recent State Ombudsman\u2019s report, and all councillors\u2019 role […]<\/p>\n