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The Week We Become One Northern Beaches Council

22/5/2016

13 Comments

 
At midday on Thursday 12th May the Proclamation was published abolishing Manly, Warringah & Pittwater Councils and creating one Northern Beaches Council, to be run by an Administrator until the next Council elections in September 2017.
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From Manly to Palm Beach - the new Northern Beaches Council. Photo by Joel Coleman, Saltmotion.
By the end of the day Councillors were notified by staff that their emails had been switched off and access keys decommissioned.   All Resident Community Precinct Groups were told they were disbanded.   The community was in shock – it all happened so fast.
 
Enter the Administrator …
Dick Persson has been appointed by the Premier to form the new Council.  (Mr Persson is well-known and highly regarded as the former Administrator of Warringah Council from 2003-2008).
 
He quickly appointed former Pittwater General Manager, Mark Ferguson, as the overall GM, with Henry Wong (Manly) and Ric Hart (Warringah) as Deputy GMs, along with the existing six Deputy GMs.  All general staff have been guaranteed their jobs for three years.  However some changes will obviously need to be made at the top level.
 
Former Councillors were contacted by the Administrator and invited to continue contributing on interim committees.
 
One Week Later ….
The first Extraordinary  Council Meeting was called on 19th May by the Administrator, at the former Manly Council Chambers.
 
A packed gallery was personally greeted by Mr Perssons, “call me Dick”, setting the tone for a relaxed and engaging meeting.
 
One hour was set aside for the public forum with 15 speakers addressing issues such as the Oval Car Park (of course), Manly2015 Plan, Plastic Free July, Sydney Road upgrade, the future role of precincts and cost issues in relation with the new Swim Centre.
 
Mr Persson was attentive, polite and asked questions. 
 
One Northern Beaches Parking Sticker
The Administrator replaces the Councillors, therefore any matter on the agenda, he decides.
 
First item of business – he initiates one Northern Beach parking sticker, effective immediately, although Manly residents will need to wait three weeks for new stickers to be issued.
 
He stated that while technology can generally be a good thing, in the case of ticketless parking meters this clearly had not worked.
 
Manly ratepayers will get their parking stickers back!  This will entitle us to park anywhere on the Peninsula - at the beaches, parks and reserves for free all day; and four hours will remain at Manly beachfront, Shelly Beach, Clontarf, Sandy Bay and Spit Bridge.
 
Each household will receive two stickers, which will be posted in the next couple of weeks.
 
Manly Precinct Forum Groups
The Premier, Mike Baird, has given an undertaking that the precincts are to continue under the interim Council.  It is expected that the Administrator will address this issue shortly.
 
Council Interim Committees
Former Mayors Jean Hay and Michael Regan, and former Deputy Mayor, Kylie Ferguson, will be part of a newly established Implementation Advisory Group, and will chair new Local Representation Committees made up of many former councillors from all three councils. These committees, under the headings of Social, Environment and Economic, will provide advice and guidance to the Administrator.
 
The next Council elections will be September 2017.
 
One Point Of Interest …
Mr Persson stated that overall the Government received 28,000 submissions in relation to the state-wide amalgamation proposals, 18,000 were from the Northern Beaches with the majority supporting one council. 
 
The meeting concluded  with the public invited to stay for refreshments.  The next meeting will be held at Pittwater in two weeks, and future meetings will rotate amongst the old council areas for the time being.
 
In the meantime it is business as usual with Customer Service Counters operating at Manly, Pittwater and Dee Why.

13 Comments
David Jones
23/5/2016 07:45:07 am

Candy Bingham is a tremendous loss to administration and foresite to the entire peninsula. Pray that she is not lost ton the cause.

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Ian Thomsom
23/5/2016 01:56:06 pm

Totally agree

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Don Walker
23/5/2016 07:59:29 am

Candy Bingham has proven herself to be a real leader representing the views of all of the rate payers from the old Manly Council area without fear or favour. We can only hope that Candy is able to continue her fantastic works for all rate payers in the future.

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James Roberts
23/5/2016 09:19:46 am

Thank goodness we've got Candy helping us. I really hope she's in charge by Sept '17.

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Hania norman
23/5/2016 09:53:11 am

Candy, such sad news at the lack of respect shown to you and some councillors, Dick sounds good, but why the top heavy bureaucracy salaries and not the voted in folk, like you, democracy does not live here now, why the golden oldies left they should have retired and why so many GM's and their deputies, costing so much for the new one council, thank you for your support and passion with all in Manly, and keeping us in the loop which Hay never did, wishing you success for 2017, why move from 2016, what are the councillors supposed to do ill then, and why did some Lib councillors get jobs ahead of the disband of the councils and esp the Indies who served us amazingly, go candy and Go Good For Manly, maybe now Good for the Northern Beaches xx

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Ruth Crause link
23/5/2016 04:43:40 pm

Totally Agree ! Thanks Candy

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Jim Mitchell
23/5/2016 09:55:55 am

Thanks for info Candy, pleased to hear the transition to a single Northern Beaches Council went smoothly. No doubt you will continue to play a major role to ensure the voice of Manly is heard.

One administrator, 1 GM,2 Deputy GM's 6 Assistant GM's, 12 Directors, 20 Senior Managers all for a Council about the size of Wollongong pre amalgamation -. Salary say $8 000 000 ? not bad if you can get it

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shirley greening
23/5/2016 11:07:58 am

Thankfully you will ensure voice of Manly will still be heard .
to ensure the new council will not become top heavy with
ex office bearers. from Shirley Greening (neighbour) Manly

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warren r riley
23/5/2016 01:42:22 pm

It is sad that people like Henry still have a role in the new arrangement.
His performance at Manly over the years, should have disqualified him instantly. One question. Does his extended Manly contract carry over to Northern Beaches? If so are they responsible for his salary?

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Robert Jones link
23/5/2016 02:42:56 pm

Don't become invisable Candy, Manly residents would be flying blind without your news and hard work trying to keep certain people honest and not getting beyond their limited mental capacity.

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max harvey
24/5/2016 01:11:30 pm

Candy, Thanks for the good work and may the legal challenge succeed.
Hopefully Pearson will realise this proposed DA should not be approved and put it to the non manly council staff. Will we have a right to appeal to the new GM for future DA's, so we can bypass the manly staff with their fixed and sometimes biased views.

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Betty Ratcliffe
24/5/2016 06:38:50 pm

Thanks Candy,many people in Warringah are grateful!

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Daniel Stevens - View My Link link
8/3/2022 07:23:25 pm

Seeing their camaraderie and resilience is truly inspiring.


Reply



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    Candy Bingham, Manly Ward Councillor on Northern Beaches Council posts what's making news and issues relevant to Manly on this blog. 

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