Logan still continue to propagate the story that they didn't want to amalgamate and that their proposal (submission to the State) to have a huge area (the MLNBSA) of Beaudesert Shire added to their shire was only in response to Beaudesert asking for the part of it's shire annexed in the forming of Logan, and Beaudesert claimed they made their submission based on the fact that Logan had previously asked for their boundary to be moved south at least twice before, (both times being defeated at referendum). Personally I believe the latter and the fact that Logan has changed it's story several times on the issue props my belief up.
Those against the Amalgamation always said that if we had to be forced to amalgamate to Logan it would not go well for us, that development of satellite cities would be fast tracked, that planning would rob us of important budget money, that Logan would increase it's staff unseasonably, that the costs of council would rise causing increases in rates and charges, that the few services we get would be reduced severely and that Logan would attempt to rule us as they rule Woodridge and create laws and regulations making rural lifestyle impossible.
So far, all of the above have been proven and without exception we have well and truly been shafted by Logan and we are almost without representation as two of the three councillors who look after our area are preoccupied with their power games, federal aspirations, facing questions from the authorities, bullying, personal life issues and causing disunity and disharmony within council.
There is little doubt that we have seen services reduced, and that our rates have gone up for the displeasure, Logan has been to us, the typical wooden nickle, absolutely of no use at all except for the in crowd to get funding and kudos that they would have got from which ever council we were under.
As Logan continues to ebb away our rights to continue to live a rural lifestyle, with laws and regulations pouring forth from that orifice that sits in Wembely Road, Woodridge, we continue to pay.
Worse we are in no mans land with investigations areas, urban footprint and MDA's making our ability to sell and profit dubious at best.
Local council mergers fail to halt bloat and waste
by Kelmeny Fraser From: The Sunday Mail (Qld) October 03, 2010
LOCAL government bureaucracy has ballooned more than two years after controversial mergers to make councils leaner and less costly.
Staff levels for Queensland councils grew twice as fast this year compared with 2007 – the year before the State Government's forced amalgamations transformed the local government landscape, slashing the number of councils from 157 to 73.
A new workforce census released to The Sunday Mail by the Local Government Association of Queensland shows the number of local government workers grew by 6 per cent in 2010, compared with 2.75 per cent in 2007 and less than 2 per cent in 2006.
Staff numbers in 2008 and 2009 rose by about 3.9 per cent a year. But by March this year, that had soared to 6 per cent, compared with the same time last year, with an extra 2392 employees joining the state's 57 non-indigenous councils.
The rise in staff is estimated to have added more than $119 million to council wage costs.
It comes despite State Government promises to make local government more efficient through the mergers, with then local government minister Andrew Fraser predicting it could save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Merger critics, such as former Aramac Shire Mayor Gary Peoples, have seized on the figures.
"A lot of what was said by councils and mayors has probably come to fruition, in that there is not going to be increased efficiencies, but there is probably going to be a loss in services," he said.
At Logan City another 454 people have started work since 2008, taking the total number of workers to 1371, even after losing 218 staff to the area's new water business Allconnex.
Staff levels at several councils, such as Cairns and Maranoa Regional Councils, stagnated. Townsville City Council shed more than 2000 staff.
20 comments:
The local government government
boundary seperating Logan and
Beaudesert (or Scenic Rim RC)
was intended to be Camp Cable
Road and Waterford Tamborine
Rd. Jimboomba was never meant
to fall into Logan, the new
boundary was supposed to cut
across the Mt. Lindsay High-
way from Camp Cable and slice
between Jimboomba and Flagstone.
For reasons that to this day
have not be clarified, Logan
got at least twice as much as
they were supposed to get from
the old Beau Shire according to
what the `so called` apolitical
amalgamation panel had proposed,
that panel included Bob Quinn &
Terry Mackenroth. Clearly there
was political interference from
within the councillorship of the
old Beau council, who some how
talked the director-general of
the former Local Government
minister Andrew Fraser into
ignoring their own political-
ly appointed panel & instead
they listened to what one or
two former Beau councillors
thought the new boundaries
should be. One well known
councillor, no prizes for
guessing who that was, had
schemed the whole thing up
with Mackenroth & his mates
at the Logan City Council a
long time before Fraser made
any amalgamation announcement.
Perhaps Joy Dresher was silly
enough to not see the writing
on the wall, but two or three
of her councillors were trying
to have Logan taking over Beau
for at least 2 years before the
event. All those dumb, surprised
looks on the face of Rose ect ect
at Logan when everything became
official was all theatre & pre-
tence. The LCC top brass knew
it was going to happen because
Mackenroth was the one who was
making regular trips to Logan
immediately after Fraser made
the councils do what was then
made out to be `voluntary as-
sessments of possible amalga-
mations`. That was months be-
fore Fraser and Beattie forced
the councils to amalgamate. To
me the Beaudesert Shire Council
was ill equipped to deal with a
host of infrastructure issues in
the old shire, simply because it
was only concerned with the town
of Beaudesert and nowhere else.
The only diffrence between Lo-
gan and Beaudesert is that Lo-
gan has a lot more money, but
the rural areas of North Beau
remain at the mercy of a coun-
cil which like Beaudesert views
it only as being open space and
not freehold land which people
purchased most of the time to
have a semi-rural acreage life-
style. Time the lid was lifted
on the deceptions that the LCC
kept under wraps that involved
a few councillors and more than
a few council officers who were
anything but apolitical in the
council amalgamation processs.
I think everyone knows that certain councillors and officers were set to benefit big time in an amalgamated council, and i think we know who they are.
I was told the reason they went down to the Albert river was exactly as the Original post suggests, the Mount Lindesay North Beaudesert Study Area, which was given whole to Logan with an instruction, develop at will.
Now the ULDA has control of the major development areas council probably has a lot to worry about because they are at the same time trying to satisfy the needs of investors who have bought up considerable holdings in the Park Ridge Major Development Area which is due to begin any time now and competition from two other local and one quite vast regional MDA will no doubt hamper the speed at which development takes palce.
Knowing the way the other developments run, i'd say Park Ridge will be the slowest and the least popular with either buyers or developers.
The arrogance of Logan at just how they were in control has hoist them right royally and they will come a cropper with the community and with the State if they continue the push.
There is no doubt that the councillors and Staff at logan will never get an oscar nomination for their unbelievable performances when trying to fein surprise at the amalgamations "we never asked for" in fact Chris Rose could not look you in the eye an say it, he did however say it at ever public meeting for quite some time after as if he was trying to convince himself it is true.
Interesting also he was given an award for his assistance during what preceded the whole amalgamations.
Also interesting that before the amalgamations Logan built the big (what looks like it was designed to be a prison) monolith at Woodridge to rule its increased subjects and survey ints increased holdings, and yet still claimed they didn't know it was coming.
I wonder how they can sleep at night?
Easy enough due to the fact that when different people called for support to fight this , NoOne came forward in any form of strength. Least of all our gutless Councillors. It is at this next election that we should show the power of the peoiple from the old BSC and move all three cRS WHO REP US OUT AND GIVE NEW ONES A GO. Time is right to act and not sit on our hands and continue to bitch and moan. Watch then for the Logan crs left to shit themselves including the Mayor.Only then will we gain respect from these parasites. Div 11, 9, 4 and 7 should all be targeted for replacements. I hope someone will lead the anger. Otherwise continue to pay the price through your pockets for some time to come.
Anon is right, until we get councillors who will actually work together for our area, not representing the old Bogan more, not favouring Bogan at all and certainly not being preoccupied with personal issues and trying to climb the political ladder, then and only then will we be better off.
I too hope we see some strong people put up their hand, but not the chamber types, not ex's from the old days and not those with agenda's of progress against the wishes of the community at large.
The sedarch and location of these persons must start now. Quality people with integrity and some life/business experience would be a start for required qualifications alomg with livinf LOCal.
Plenty of people write ANON but too few are prepared to put their hands up at the crucial time.Most of the writers are known by their style , however too few of their names show when it come time to nominate for the Elections. Lets hope it will change this time around for March 2012.
Well Anon 3:13 - why don't you start the ball rolling?
I agree with the comments on this page. It doesn't make sense to elect members who we pay big bucks to, not to attend to core business - that is to represent us.
Instead we have an army of bullies constantly telling us what we can and can't do or have. The worst part is that they use OUR money to either take us to court or steal our homes if we don't comply.
Everyone is focussed on the injustices of Iraq and other suppressed countries - what do they think is happening here?
We are forced to accept decisions made to benefit govs - not the people and to keep them in luxury while the rest of the people suffer financial hardship.
How many have started their new careers with very little money in the bank and after a short time ended up with financial portfolios that beggars belief?
Time for reformation and fumigation! Please look further than the same old names that keep bobbing up.
I don't think anyone is going to announce their candidacy this far out form the election, and the main reason for that is that there is too much time between now and the election for those with big incomes to muck rake , make untrue allegations and generally push those nominating out of community groups etc.
Clever candidates will leave it until the last minute, perhaps ten weeks out, to begin their public campaign.
Although it is reasonable to expect some of those who ran at the last election to run again.
One minute the mergers were touted as money savers, the next minute we were told in all seriousness that the mergers would cost $50 Million and this is simply the price that will have to be paid.
Thankfully in Moreton Bay costs didn't go up with the mergers [they are up because of Anna Bligh(t)]the council can afford to subsidise water bills. It should have been the same with every region.
That said I think it's because enough people keep an eye on the council to keep them on their toes. I dare say that is what's needed in Logan.
In answer to anon 4.51pm, how they can sleep at night, the answer is simple. They can sleep quite easily because they are benefiting from all this and simply don't care how it affects you or anyone else.
I agree with the last comment - it is up to the people to keep councils honest. Logan seems far more interested in the dollar than people.
I believe the first step is to get rid of crs who are not doing their jobs. We have a few more interested in their own agendas and campaigning for other levels of government.
The problem is that when people take a stand there is always retaliation. It seems its ok for crs to defame, smear and even threaten constituents but God help those who stand up to them.
Hopefully people are so sick of the tirade now that they will band together and clean out the mess.
I honestly think that Logan is so caught up with being seen to be working with the community that their bureaucratic system often forgets to actually include community in the process.
The really problematic issue is that certain councillors use their sycophantic supporters to lobby on behalf of community when they are really lobbying on behalf of the councillor for the purpose of obtaining a few points for the next election.
In my experience some of supporters have agendas of their own and so willing to say or do what pleases the crs.
The sad thing is that these same supporters claim to 'represent' their communities when in fact their community don't even know them. And half the time they don't even know what they are talking about, they haven't a clue of what the community actually needs or wants.
I've read documents where these people claim that the community have 'told' them what is needed but ask the community and they have never spoken to these people.
So the fairy tale is spun to give the illusion that these people are important and providing correct information to council. What a tragedy this is.
But then council should not be so gullible either.
My money is on all the Crs being returned including Mrs Personality ( Statistical Queen) Mayor. We the people deserve what we get for not taking the time to evaluate which perswon will do the right thing for the Residents. We are the cash cows who appear not to care what it costs our pockets. Be prepared to fund another pay rise for the Crs prior to the next Election. LOL for the gullible voters.
Tim it is called Labor(State) for Labor (Logan) pandering to their friends the Developers. Look now at the recent decisions re Yarrabilba and Flagstone. Ah but Tim you already knew that, you just keep on teasing us .
I hope that Vince takes another shot at running in Div 4 at the next election. Especially after the new boundaries are announced to correct the current mess that is between Div 9 and Div 4.I believe that he has plenty to offer the area as a whole.
Yeah `Not Surprised`, i already
do know about Labor looking af-
ter Labor, but i try and avoid
naming the brand name of the
state government because you
only get accused of bias then.
I dont make a habit of teasing
anybody, unless i am playing a
game of hard to get with a girl
of course. I am not teasing you
when i say that i do know that
the process in which the ULDA
came to life was most unaccep-
table and yes, Yarrabilba and
Flagstone, not to mention all
the other ULDA urban ghettos,
will not be the eco-friendly
villages of the future which
they are being made out to be.
The problem with Logan is that it is over-staffed. When that happens some have so little to do they begin to scratch the bottom of the barrel to find something to justify their pay packet.
For example - the animal policy, the truck policy, the garden policy and god knows what else they're cooking up!
It's also obvious that crs do not have enough to do. The constant internal bickering, the failed coups and publicity seeking is clear evidence that they ARE NOT doing the job they were elected to do.
Its time for a major overhaul of the whole council. Perhaps a good dose of Castor Oil will do the job - certainly will get rid of the crxp!
Perhaps NOW is the time, as I have done very recently with the Scenic Rim, is to start a Logan Rate Payers Association - people power! that,s the only way to change the status quo.
VERY well supported and successful launch of the RPA (see www.srrpa.com and WWW.gcrpa.com)AND www.tamborinedailynews.com This Association was commenced under the auspices of the Gold Coast Rate Payers Association. I am willing to help ANYONE in Logan get their branch off and running - contact me on 55446149 - Ken Vandermolen.
Further to my last - as an indication of the success of people power - the Victorian Rate Payers Association (Geelong branch) recently got 5, YES 5! of their members elected into local council - not to say they may be "perfect" but at least the rate payer is in with some sort of chance!!
I am trying to set up local ratepayers association to challenge things like Allconnex fees for water we dont want,need or use.
We need ratepayers to stand up to these companies.
Jimboomba times is interested in anyone who corresponding on Allconnex contact Aleisha at JT.
Email me if you are intrested in the rate payers association.
wedontwantyourwater@hotmail.com
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