Tag: Council
Day 1 of Boroondara election vote counting
Today I was scrutineering down at the VEC counting centre in Camberwell, which was a very interesting experience. Getting to see democracy work up close is something that I would recommend everyone do should the opportunity arise. While I was mostly paying attention to the wards I was a scrutineer for (Cotham and Gardiner), I…
Clearing my council desk
When I was first elected in 2012, I anticipated keeping a clean desk with good administrative order. Four years later, this is what awaited me. While my term as councillor officially expires on Saturday morning, I decided to get a head start on the seemingly monolithic task of cleaning up last Friday. It took the…
Day 6: Council Elections 2016 – Nominations close, ballot order revealed
Welcome to Day 6 of the 2016 council elections! Please read the Day 1 post for an introduction and more information. Final list of nominations and ballot order With nominations closing at 12 noon today, here is the final list for every ward in the ballot order drawn today with all 33 candidates: As you…
Day 5: Council Elections 2016
Welcome to Day 5 (technically, counting the weekend) of the 2016 council elections! Please read the Day 1 post for an introduction and more information. Preferences One of the unexpected changes to the electoral regulations this year has been the removal of preference indications from the mailed ballot pack. At the end of August, the…
Day 1: Council Elections 2016
A brief introduction Here we finally are at Day 1 of the 2016 local government elections for Victoria. I will be posting here over the course of the next few weeks to keep you all updated on what is happening in the world of local politics. Obviously I will be focussing on Boroondara, but I…
New mayor, committee chairs and councillor assignments for 2015-2016
At last night’s council meeting, council elected the mayor and committee chairs for 2015-16. We also appointed councillors to the large number of internal and external committees, alliances and other groups. Cr Jim Parke (Bellevue Ward) was elected as mayor for the next year and Cr Steve Hurd (Glenferrie Ward) returned for a second year…
‘Pop up’ council coming to North Balwyn
As you might have seen in today’s Progress Leader, Council is trialing a new idea that came out of our recent community innovation tournament. The idea is for council services to travel around the municipality to places which are disconnected or further away from council’s service centres (mainly in Camberwell, Hawthorn and Kew). The first…
Council passes 2015-16 budget for Boroondara
Yesterday Council unanimously passed the 2015-16 Boroondara Budget. While we prepare for the impending rate capping in the next financial year, Council has been able to include a rate rise reduction to 4.5% while maintaining and improving services. Locally, Maranoa Ward continues to significantly benefit with many projects being approved for the area. These include:…
2013-14 Boroondara annual report
Tonight Council adopted the 2013-14 annual report, which provides an excellent and detailed summary of the work that Council does over the year. Highlights include: Spending $42.9 million on replacing assets Continuing Council’s commitment to a 30-40% cut in carbon emissions by 2020 with an 11% cut in carbon emissions since 2007 Completion of major…
Council approves East-West Link submission
At last night’s meeting, Council unanimously approved the submission drafted by officers (with a small change to copy in local representatives) on the East-West Link road. The submission raises many potential issues for Boroondara, namely large increases in traffic on local and arterial roads, freeway noise and potential impacts of the widening of the Eastern…