The Locals – “drain the swamp” – Bridge route to be decided by Northo residents, rate cut promised

The Locals may be Bilpin-based but they aim to work for all Hawkesbury residents if they get elected this coming Saturday and say their vision includes moving the Council from what they call the “bottom four worst run councils” to the top four.

They also promise to “drain the swamp” of city planners, have an amnesty on fines because “Hawkesbury City Council has been so badly run many people have had to do work not approved by Council, to keep their business or households going”, and let businesses put up free signage, do away with business DAs for small companies, and appoint more locals to Council admin positions.

A rate reduction would also be on the cards with The Locals.

“Hawkesbury Council residents deserve a rate reduction,” say The Locals. “We have put up with bushfires, floods, COVID and a shockingly dysfunctional Council administration. This is all very costly to the community.”

They believe the Council not only has a sizeable surplus every year but it also owns a lot of property and they’d be looking at that with a view to freeing up funds to both fund a rates cut and vastly improve services.

On the planned $500m North Richmond Bridge duplication they say the North Richmond community should decide the best route

“The route should be decided by the North Richmond community who will be most affected by it,” they told the Post.

They don’t believe the Warragamba Dam wall should be raised. “It will result in increased water storage for Sydney basin development,” they say.

“There is little evidence that it will assist with flood mitigation because once the dam is full and flood rain comes, water will still have to be released.”

The group wants senior Council managers to live in the Hawkesbury, and who understand the semi-rural lifestyle. They believe that would also help get the Council to new zero by 2030.

“Good Council administration drives innovation and community development,” they say. “To operate effectively we need efficient Administrators with experience working in semi-rural and country communities. Then our community will be able to develop and grow.”

The Locals would try and have a sweep out at Council. They say, “none of the senior managers of Council live in the Hawkesbury, most live in densely packed city suburbs. This is a recent happening. We had a better Council when senior managers lived in our local community. We want senior managers who live in the Hawkesbury.”

They would also seek to have a planning administrator appointed to, in part, they say, “drain the swamp of city planners”.

The Locals say Hawkesbury has one of the longest and more expensive Development Application (DA) processes in NSW. They reckon it’s because “the senior Council administrators don’t have rural experience”.

They say the Hawkesbury has never been a city so they would change the Council’s official name – Hawkesbury City Council – to simply, Hawkesbury Council.

They suggest, “Council officers can watch ABC Gardening Australia to brush up on how to do this”, when it comes to getting rid of poisons in public park management. “There are a wide range of options for managing weeds other than the use of poisons,” they say.

And the Regional Museum – in Windsor – could get a redesign to take its entrance way out of the Macquarie Arms Hotel car park, they say, and have it face the river.

“Hawkesbury is the only Council to put their museum entrance in a pub car park,” say The Locals.

“While the Rum Corp is part of our history, we have much more than grog to promote and be proud of. We can do better than this. Our museum can be redesigned to face the river and give visitors a truly breathtaking experience.”

There would be more emphasis on pop-up art galleries across the local government area, “celebrating our local arts and culture”.

And function centres would be back on the table, The Locals saying Hawkesbury is the only council that doesn’t allow function centres in its local government area.

So, an action-packed wish-list there, and there’s more…

The group is headed by well-known local Lichell Maris, though she is on the ballot – they are Group F on the paper – as Lichell Farrell, her married name. She says due to a mix up with the Electoral Commission it was too late to change it.

The early issues for the Group didn’t stop there. They would have had two other members – Dr Billy Gruner and well-known Windsor-based solicitor Rod Storie – but both were told by Hawkesbury Council they couldn’t stand because of issues with their addresses – neither had an official address in the Hawkesbury.

The final group includes two other well-known Bilpin business folk – Margaret Tadrosse owner of Bilpin Fruit Bowl, and Sam Ramaci who runs Bilpin Apple Pie Cottage – plus other locals, Tim Rymer – the youngest council candidate – Margaret Miller, and Jim Newton.

The group say there were born out of the “Black Summer Bushfires disaster”.

“It acted as a lightning rod across the Hawkesbury Districts of Bilpin, Colo and St Albans,” Ms Maris told the Post.

“Before the fires, Council bureaucrats had been menacing residents with extraordinarily slow processing of DAs, and aggressive Council officers checking businesses and residents and threatening them with legal action for noncompliance with any rules,” she said.

“After the fires Council’s General Manager sent an email to all residents telling them not to remove dead or dangerous trees until Council had inspected them,” says Dr Billy Gruner, who is still playing a large part in the group’s campaign.

“The stupidity of this email brought home to everyone that Council’s senior management were more interested in city rules than rural lives,” said Dr Gruner.

The group have a number of issues they’d like to address and they believe it starts with a good hard look at the way Hawkesbury Council functions.

Among what they call “our top urgent priorities”, they would seek to appoint a Planning Administrator, they say, “so Hawkesbury can move out of being one of the four worst performing Councils in NSW”.

They’d aim to get the Council and the community carbon footprint down to zero by 2030, partly through employing more locals.

They are big on small business and would want a newly appointed Planning Administrator to develop a plan for increased business and employment opportunities in manufacturing, education, and health.

They say the area of greatest potential growth is tourism and the creative arts “as the Hawkesbury is Sydney’s natural playground”.

To get our roads repaired they would use local contractors “with local pride” to improve roads.

“Improvements to our roads need to be done by local contractors who take pride in their work and are held to account by locals for their workmanship,” say The Locals in their policy statement.

They would push for a free Council tip and the right to scavenge for reuse.

“Rubbish dumping in our bush is on the increase. We propose a free tip for residents and the right to scavenge for reuse. This gives people an incentive to go to the tip.”

And there would be three roadside rubbish pick-ups a year

“For people who can’t get to the tip we need 3 roadside rubbish pick ups a year,” they say.

If The Locals get onto Council they would want to give all Colo residents a weekly roadside rubbish removal service – surprisingly they don’t have that currently.

They want to see bushfire water storage at all local halls and RFS sheds

“Hawkesbury is prone to bushfires, and we need better water storage so fire tankers can refill quickly in their local areas. We propose to install 120,000 litres of water storage at all RFS sheds and Community Halls not connected to town water,” they say.

“Hawkesbury is prone to flood, and we need better high ground property storage facilities so residents can evacuate and store possessions during the flood and clean up periods.

“During times of drought many residents must buy water, which costs much more than town water supplied by Council,” [water is supplied by WaterNSW] they say. “We need to acknowledge this and compensate these residents so they can afford water.”

The Locals says small business is 50% of the local economy, and it drives innovation and community development.

“To operate effectively we need efficient Council administration with experience working in semi-rural and country communities,” they say.

If elected they would push for:

Free outdoor signage for businesses using removable A Frame promo stands out the front of business. Currently Council charges for this.

Free alfresco dining – currently Council charges business for this.

Free DAs for small businesses with up to 3 full-time employees

Free parking for businesses in townships and villages

And on the environment, they say ‘go local’ to help get to new zero by 2030, and that firstly comes back to employing more people who live locally.

“Employing local senior managers, decreases transport costs, and our carbon footprint. With a Planning Administrator an efficient and effective Council management could take the first steps toward making the following happen,” they say, giving a list of items they would implement:

· Photovoltaic solar powering all public buildings

· Methane capture and reuse at the tips and sewage treatment works

· All future subdivisions to be designed to passive solar heating and cooling specifications

· EV car charging stations in council car parks

The Locals team

Lichell Maris

Number 1 on The Locals ticket, Ms Maris lives and has raised a family in the Hawkesbury and operates a successful small business. She is a community advocate, community organizer “and enthusiastic socialite”, it says in her bio.

She has never been a member of a political party and says she has “her ear on the heartbeat of the Hawkesbury community”.

Tim Rymer

Tim is was born in the Hawkesbury and is taking a break from uni, working as a barista in a local café while deciding what to do next.

“We need Tim and our young people to have a future in the Hawkesbury – so we don’t become a giant retirement village,” say The Locals.

Tim is said to be an excellent listener and has the perspective of a person who is going to be living in the Hawkesbury in 2071. “This view is really needed on Council,” says his bio.

Tim has been a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Margaret Tadrosse

She is a businesswoman and community organiser, and has owned and managed the landmark Bilpin Fruit Bowl for 30 years. She uses these managerial skills when the community or an individual is confronted with a disaster. She is a relentless advocate for individuals and communities, and politicians and bureaucrats apparently take notice of what she says.

She says she has never been a member of a political party.

Maggie Lou Millar

Maggie Lou has lived in the Hawkesbury all her life, working in her family business before establishing one of her own.

Her bio tells us, “being raised in rural Hawkesbury she had values of self-reliance, looking out for family friends and the community, and being able to get on and do things on your property without mindless bureaucratic interference”.

She says she has never been a member of a political party.

Santino Ramachi

Sam has raised a family in the Hawkesbury and operates a successful small business that he has just passed onto the next generation of his family.

Sam is an enthusiastic and tireless talker, community volunteer and performer – he’s known as The Bilpin Elvis.

Sam brings to Council practical knowledge of how to do things to help improve and develop the community that won’t cost the earth. He wants to build a Hawkesbury that his grandchildren are proud to live in.

Mr Ramachi has never been a member of a political party.

Jimmy Newton

Mr Newton is the second generation of his family to live and raise a family in the Hawkesbury. He operates a successful rural earth moving business which he plans to hand onto his daughter.

Mr Newton is one of Hawkesbury’s most experienced RFS firefighters. The Locals say he would bring to Council a practical view of how to help improve the health and wellbeing of the community.

He has never been a member of a political party.

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