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Speaker 1: This week, residents of the Adelaide Hills Council THEHC area

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Speaker 1: will begin receiving their ballots and candidate profiles for the

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Speaker 1: election of a new mayor. The current AHC has been

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Speaker 1: characterized by disharmony, division paralysis, with several councilors having resigned

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Speaker 1: and the previous mayor isolated for a year or more

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Speaker 1: prior to her recent formal resignation, with reports of tension

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Speaker 1: between several councilors, the recently appointed CEO, and the mayor.

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Speaker 1: The instability also as affected and infected the administration, with

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Speaker 1: a high number of senior experienced people departing. Ballots have

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Speaker 1: been dispatched to voters next week that says of Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: the thirteenth of January, and voting concludes early February. The

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Speaker 1: current acting Mayor, Nathan Daniel, as a candidate and this

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Speaker 1: important election. It has been part been a big part

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Speaker 1: of the councilor's performance over the last three years. Another

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Speaker 1: candidate who has nominated for the mayor's position and who

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Speaker 1: wants to see significant improvements across the council operations is

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Speaker 1: Andrew Stratford. And Andrew joins me now. Andrew, thanks for

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Speaker 1: coming on the program, giving me a ring to talk

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Speaker 1: about your your well running for mayor of the Adelaide

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Speaker 1: Hills Council and over the last I can't tell you

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Speaker 1: how many years I have heard that the Adelaide Hills

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Speaker 1: Council has basically been a basket case and residents have

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Speaker 1: been up in arms for a long time too about

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Speaker 1: the goings on of the council up there and the

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Speaker 1: mayor allegedly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's right, And thanks very much for having

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Speaker 2: me on your show tonight, and I really appreciate that opportunity.

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Speaker 2: But yes, I think you must have been talking to

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Speaker 2: the same people that I've been talking.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they've bring me, they've bring.

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Speaker 2: Me, yeah, and it's not good and we need to

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Speaker 2: make them change and we need to make some improvements.

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Speaker 2: And if we don't do something different, we're going to

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Speaker 2: get more of the same.

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Speaker 1: You've got a slogan that council works for you, not

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Speaker 1: the other way around. And I think Adelaide Hills Council

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Speaker 1: has ignored that fact. And I think there are a

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Speaker 1: number of councils throughout metropolitan South Australia that have also

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Speaker 1: ignored that over recent years.

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Speaker 2: Right, And I think that that's key to where I

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Speaker 2: want to be over the next four or five years

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Speaker 2: is getting that council back working for us, because you're

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Speaker 2: quite right, councils teams who have sort of moved away

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Speaker 2: from that community feel a bit I'd like to bring

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Speaker 2: it back to community. It is the right payers that

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Speaker 2: fund the council, and it is the right payers that

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Speaker 2: are looking for some information and some leadership and we're

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Speaker 2: just not getting that that datas council has been very

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Speaker 2: slow in reacting and it has been very poor in

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Speaker 2: its functions at council level. And it's the rate payers

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Speaker 2: in the district and across the district that are actually

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Speaker 2: wearing that. And if someone needs to hop up and

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Speaker 2: make a stand, and I'm happy to put my hand

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Speaker 2: up and say yeah, yeah, vote for me.

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Speaker 1: And at Adelaide councils are really fun to mentally lost

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Speaker 1: what you talk about, it's about that that their immediate

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Speaker 1: community that they should be looking after, focusing on not

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Speaker 1: national issues such as many councils did when when the

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Speaker 1: Voice referendum was going on and some councils putting money

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Speaker 1: into you know, saying that promoting the yes vote as

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Speaker 1: well when when the majority of South Australians wanted to vote.

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Speaker 2: Know, yeah, we need to get back to those core values.

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Speaker 2: I think councils sort of drifted away from what they

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Speaker 2: were originally set up to do. I've had previous experiences

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Speaker 2: aiding years on your Lations Council and I was quite

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Speaker 2: proud of my achievements during that time. But what I

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Speaker 2: was most proud of is the little wins we had

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Speaker 2: for the community. And I don't think those things are

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Speaker 2: happening now like the US is that we do need

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Speaker 2: to jump back in that direction. I feel we need

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Speaker 2: to sort of be a little bit careful about where

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Speaker 2: we spend our money, perhaps get back to some of

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Speaker 2: those core principles around roads, rates and rubbish. It's really

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Speaker 2: interesting sort of see what comes out in councils annual

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Speaker 2: budgets and things like that. Nowadays they talk about all

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Speaker 2: these initiatives are spending money on and how wonderful they

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Speaker 2: arguing all of these things, But there's not a lot

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Speaker 2: spent on roads, rates and rubbish. And when I talk

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Speaker 2: to people in the area, what do they want? They

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Speaker 2: want their roads fixed, and they want the council rates

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Speaker 2: to be reduced, and they want their rubbish picked up.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty simple, actually, isn't it really, But they've made

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Speaker 1: it many, many, many councils and the various councilors, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: have made it a lot more complicated than it needs

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Speaker 1: to be. And you know you mentioned our rates. That's

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Speaker 1: obviously something that's very much at the heart of residents

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Speaker 1: in all council areas. Reducing council debt. The councils love

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Speaker 1: spending money. I live in the seat of hold Fast Bay.

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Speaker 1: The amount of money our council has been spending and

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Speaker 1: our rates have gone up enormously over the last few years.

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Speaker 1: They want strong leadership, but lead leadership that represents the

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Speaker 1: desires and needs of the community, not look, as I say,

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Speaker 1: focusing on national issues and be becoming very political from

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Speaker 1: that point of view.

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Speaker 2: And the best way to find out what those issues are, Andrew,

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Speaker 2: is to talk to the community, and I think the

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Speaker 2: council perhaps hasn't been doing that as well as it

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Speaker 2: should be. I think the community consultation behind a lot

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Speaker 2: of initiatives nowadays, it's very poor. You know, we talk

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Speaker 2: about borrowings and debts that the council's in and that

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Speaker 2: level of debt soaks up a lot of our rate

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Speaker 2: payer funds. We're projected to have thirty five to forty

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Speaker 2: million dollars worth of debt in the next couple of years.

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Speaker 2: It's just an incredible amount of debt that we have

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Speaker 2: to carry and that our ratepayers have the fund and

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Speaker 2: on your way if they're going to get that is

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Speaker 2: to put the rates up. And we heard before some

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Speaker 2: of your earlier listeners ringing in, we've struggles with cost

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Speaker 2: of living. I'm sure the last thing they need is

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Speaker 2: increased council rates. So we need to rain in the

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Speaker 2: council rates. We need to reduce that level of council

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Speaker 2: debt so that it's a little bit more comfortable for us,

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Speaker 2: and that way we might go able to get projects

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Speaker 2: done and the core values that residents and ratepayers that

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Speaker 2: the district they're looking for. We might be able to

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Speaker 2: actually achieve something a little bit more and maybe one

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Speaker 2: day we can actually get a council back to working

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Speaker 2: for us rather than the other way around.

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Speaker 1: And that sounds all well and good too, Andrew, But

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Speaker 1: I've got to ask you the question. You want to

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Speaker 1: reduce council dad, but you want to also reduce council rates.

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Speaker 1: How are these two going to reconcile if you haven't

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Speaker 1: got the rates coming in? Are you going to look

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Speaker 1: to the federal government the state government for more funding?

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Speaker 1: What are you going to do?

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Speaker 2: No, well, that's always a bonus. If the feds want

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Speaker 2: to put their hand up and offer some more funds,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure the councils will gladly take that. But there

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Speaker 2: are things we can do at a local government level,

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Speaker 2: and that quite often is around where we're spending our money.

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Speaker 2: Councils are driven primarily on the income side by the

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Speaker 2: level of rate intake that comes in and then they

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Speaker 2: can spend that amount. Now depending on how much they

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Speaker 2: want to spend as to how much they want to

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Speaker 2: put the rates up by. So if we can reduce

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Speaker 2: that spending in any one year, now, that might mean

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Speaker 2: cutting some services or cutting some programs across the council area.

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Speaker 2: But you know, in times, I guess need that's certainly

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Speaker 2: a valid way of going about that.

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Speaker 1: What services would you get?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I guess if we look at some of

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Speaker 2: the things we're started looking at debts that are coming up.

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Speaker 2: There is some issues around I think it was called

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Speaker 2: the towards zero program through councilors. Looking in there, they're

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Speaker 2: looking to say, have an extra thirty to sixty thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars at least, and it could even grow to ninety

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars for extra services on infrastructure and so forth.

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Speaker 2: These are all costs that come about because of the

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Speaker 2: commitment to this program. They're looking at renewable energy contracts

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Speaker 2: where they're going to pay consultants, advice and training. There's

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Speaker 2: an extra thirty to forty thousand there. There's ninety seven

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars for implementing a community energy program to support

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Speaker 2: residents and things. There's two hundred and forty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: Looking through there, there's so many things that we can

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Speaker 2: look at now, not to say we need to cut

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Speaker 2: them all, but maybe we should look at them a

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Speaker 2: little closer and just say, all right, let's little cherry

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Speaker 2: pick a bit. Where can we get the best bang

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Speaker 2: for back there. Let's do those programs, and then the

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Speaker 2: savings that we make we can then reinvest back into

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Speaker 2: core services or in the reduction of rates. There are

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Speaker 2: always ways to manage this. It's about, I guess, getting

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Speaker 2: the rate intake to match what you want to spend,

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Speaker 2: not spend everything first and then ask the residents to

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Speaker 2: pay for it.

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Speaker 1: Trouble we have in all levels of government, whether it

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Speaker 1: be local, state, or federal, people involved in these areas.

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Speaker 1: They have no problem and they love spending the taxpayer's

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Speaker 1: money with little regard to the outcome. At the end

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Speaker 1: of the day. They come up with these wonderful, feel

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Speaker 1: good ideas. You know, you've mentioned a couple there just

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Speaker 1: a moment ago, when it comes to net zero etc.

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Speaker 1: And it's not practical perhaps, but they spend that on consultants, etc.

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Speaker 1: And it doesn't really at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: very often benefit the rate pay of the taxpayer, etc.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I'm really concerned about when it

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Speaker 1: comes to the Adelaide Hills, and every year out about

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Speaker 1: this time during summer, I go for a drive either

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Speaker 1: in the hills or down south or up north. And

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Speaker 1: one of the things I noticed in a lot of

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Speaker 1: council areas, and it conserns me greatly because we've already

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Speaker 1: seen some grass fires up there in the Adelaide Hills

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Speaker 1: over the last day or two. And that's the verges,

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Speaker 1: the cutting back of the verges. The philosophy is we've

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Speaker 1: got to keep those long, long grasses growing and the

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Speaker 1: natural habitat. When you know, if a tree falls down,

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Speaker 1: it's left there because of the local habitat, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: but it becomes a great fire danger. Would you as me,

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Speaker 1: look at cleaning these areas up and looking after dwellings, homes,

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Speaker 1: et cetera, and farms and make that a priority as

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Speaker 1: opposed to making the natural habitat, you know, the priority

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Speaker 1: as current councils that appear to be doing right across

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Speaker 1: the board.

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Speaker 2: Yes, what we do have is a huge number of

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Speaker 2: reserves around the Adelaide Hills, which are wonderful places for

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Speaker 2: our habitats, and they live in there and have a

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Speaker 2: wonderful time, and it's great and it's lovely that we've

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Speaker 2: got them our roadside so turn into wicks effectively, and

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Speaker 2: they look like a wick on a candle. Because I

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Speaker 2: was driving from all back to Sterling earlier today and

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Speaker 2: it was the very same. The grass on the side

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Speaker 2: of the roads is just there waiting for something to

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Speaker 2: go wrong. We need to clean up these roadside birds

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Speaker 2: and we need to make it a safer area on

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Speaker 2: that road side verge for our community. We have to

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Speaker 2: live somewhere and we have to be safe in those areas.

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Speaker 2: A lot of the roads in there Dade Hills Council

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Speaker 2: become quite dangerous once fires start. I myself live in

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Speaker 2: the Woodside area, was impacted by the Cuddy Creek bushys

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Speaker 2: two years ago and our house was saved, but our

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Speaker 2: properties was burnt out, and are very very experienced and

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Speaker 2: familiar with the impacts of files on communities. Is very

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Speaker 2: involved in sort of rebuilding and community capacity after that fire.

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Speaker 2: I don't want to do it again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not just the residents of the Hills that

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Speaker 1: are impacted by these fires. We know people who are

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Speaker 1: traveling through the hills and it might be a tourist

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Speaker 1: to South Australia, it could be locals going from one

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Speaker 1: destination to another, because we know the Hills is a

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Speaker 1: very popular destination for many people right throughout the year.

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Speaker 1: But it's easy to stumble and find yourself amidst a

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Speaker 1: bush fire without realizing it and being in big trouble.

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Speaker 1: So it's very important for the safety of everybody who

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Speaker 1: uses the hills to make sure those verges are cut

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Speaker 1: back and that they are as fire as safe as

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Speaker 1: they possibly can be.

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Speaker 2: It is, and I mean people will had, for example,

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Speaker 2: to handle the beautiful little township and very very popular

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Speaker 2: and abad every day of the week. So the number

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Speaker 2: of people that travel up there and then from there

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Speaker 2: will travel through the district because they want to have

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Speaker 2: a vineyards in the area, the farmland beautiful views we have.

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Speaker 2: But they do they go for a drive around the

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Speaker 2: district and they're not to know which roads go where

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Speaker 2: gps is will take them.

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Speaker 1: Down are and they do they do. I rely on

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Speaker 1: that it's happened to be. I know exactly what you're

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Speaker 1: talking about.

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Speaker 2: So we do need to make the road safe, and

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Speaker 2: we do need to make it clear. The last thing

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Speaker 2: we need is these candle wicks across the district that

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Speaker 2: are just waiting to catch a life.

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Speaker 1: I wish you luck, Andrew with your bid to become

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Speaker 1: mayor of the Adelaide Hills Council. And as you say,

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Speaker 1: you've been a councilor for eighteen years, that's quite an

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Speaker 1: achievement that there really is. And you've been a resident

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Speaker 1: of the hills you mentioned Woodside for thirty six years.

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Speaker 1: I understand that's.

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Speaker 2: Right, and I come from a small business background in

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Speaker 2: the Hills area. So I'm very familiar with trying to

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Speaker 2: make things work and look to be quite frank Andrew.

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Speaker 2: The only reason we're having this conversation is because I'm

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Speaker 2: unhappy for the council, along with a number of other people.

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Speaker 2: So I need to do something about it, and hence

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Speaker 2: putting my hand up. If everything was rosy and everything

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Speaker 2: was great, I'd be enjoying a life something completely different.

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Speaker 2: I really appreciate your interest in what we're trying to

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Speaker 2: achieve for the Hills.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much, Andrew. I can't tell you

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Speaker 1: how many calls I have had over the years, and

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Speaker 1: has been a number of years, not just the last three.

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Speaker 1: It's probably been the last decade at least, maybe even longer,

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Speaker 1: where people have been complaining about the situation up there

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Speaker 1: in the Adelaide Hills as a direct result of some

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Speaker 1: of the actions of the Adelaide Hills Council.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's what we've got to work on, Andrews.

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Speaker 2: So I'm offering a new miyror and a new direction

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Speaker 2: to our community. And to do that, I want the

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Speaker 2: lower rates and reduce those councils that we've talked about.

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Speaker 2: And I'm putting up my experience and the skills in

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Speaker 2: my background as perhaps a good way to do that

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Speaker 2: and hopefully we can get residents put back first and

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Speaker 2: looking after those core services and functions that we want

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Speaker 2: counselors do for us.

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Speaker 1: Are you having a public meeting?

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Speaker 2: Not at this stage. It's very difficult over the Christmas

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Speaker 2: holiday take to try and organize these things. It's been

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Speaker 2: difficult to sign of that. But if something you'd happen,

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Speaker 2: I'd be more than happy to attend.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what about door knocking? Keeping in mind it's a

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Speaker 1: large area and you've obviously got other happens as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're doing a little bit of door knocking where

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Speaker 2: we can, and we're also putting out some brochures through

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Speaker 2: the Australia Post network. And then good luck with that

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Speaker 2: volunteers behind me that are out there hand delivering brochures

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Speaker 2: and talking to people and putting posters in shop windows

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Speaker 2: and things like that, and I could not be doing

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Speaker 2: it without them, So a big shout out to the

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Speaker 2: volunteers behind me.

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Speaker 1: Andrew again, good luck and hopefully you're successful in your

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Speaker 1: bid to become there of the Adelaide Hills counsel.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Andrew, I very much appreciate your support and I

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Speaker 2: look forward to having your chat after February. Sometimes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, keep me up to date, keep the listeners up

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Speaker 1: to date. Okay, thank you very much. It's that for

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Speaker 1: Andrew Stratford and yeah, he is all about low rates,

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Speaker 1: debt reduction, accountability and keeping things simple when it comes

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Speaker 1: to councils and Adelaide Hill Council in particular, lower rates,

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Speaker 1: reduced council debt, strong leadership put residents first, stand up

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Speaker 1: for local priorities and prioritize course services and functions