Kevin Brooks has announced he will stand as a candidate for the September 14 Central Coast Council election.
Brooks made the announcement at the public forum prior to the June 25 Council meeting.
The forum was familiar territory for Brooks, who has made about 20 speeches in the past three years opposing excessive rate hikes and representing community concerns.
He announced his intention to run at the end of a speech responding to Council’s Operational Plan incorporating a 4.8 per cent increase in general rates and an 11.9 per cent increase in water rates from July 1.
Brooks is a former elected Council Leader from the UK credited with turning around a struggling council’s financial position and performance.
He is currently a retiree, having held senior positions in the public and private sectors including global banks.
In his public forum address, Brooks said ratepayers were not getting value for money from recent rate hikes.
“Three years ago, Council told the community it must choose between higher rates or worse services,” he said.
“We have ended up with both.
“Despite increasing revenue from rates by 39 per cent in just four years, priority services continue to decline.
“The average time for determining development applications has more than doubled.
“Seventeen per cent our roads get the lowest possible one-star AusRAP rating.
“Over 30 per cent of customers surveyed did not think Council’s response was ‘empathetic’; a terrible indictment on customer culture.”
Brooks highlighted problems within the Council that he said needed to be addressed.
“Ratepayers are paying more for less because Council has still not addressed underlying problems within the organisation, in management, efficiency, productivity, prioritisation and above all culture,” he said.
“Instead, during four years of taxation without representation, an unaccountable bureaucracy has put its own interests above those of the community.
“For too long we, the humble and blameless residents of the Central Coast, have been paying the price for poor leadership, mismanagement and dysfunction in Central Coast, Gosford and Wyong councils.”
Brooks said it was up to the community “to be the change we want to see” and urged residents to join his campaign.
“A fresh approach is needed,” he said.
“But if we want change, it is up to all of us in the community to be the change we want to see.
“I hope that by working hard and using my skills and experience (I can) make a difference for the community.”
You can join his campaign by contacting him at ratepayerschoice@gmail.com
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Congratulations for standing at the forthcoming Council elections. The debt we inherited when the merger of Gosford and Wyong Council was never funded properly from the Government and to inherited a $2m hole from The Gosford side that was never accounted for is a disgrace, let alone the $500m the Council spent which was not for for general use and “we” are suppose to be grateful that we will pay this back. Selling off Council assets to help pay for this “mistake” is outrageous!