Some councillors waste the money of ratepayers with their legalistic character assessments of colleagues

17th May, 2011

Administrator, Website,
www.kanguroo-island.net/kanguroo-island_polis/

Dear Administrator, I wish to contribute the following letter to your website.

This letter was not published due to objections by the Editor of “The Islander” who wanted to print it without the main part of it.

Before the council seeks to make character assessments of colleagues in the local newspaper and elsewhere would those people take a long hard look at themselves and ask the question what is this action expected to achieve, what will the community think about those perpetrating the actions and what impact will it have on their colleagues with whom they need to have a working relationship.

How will this action improve the council’s $3,000,000 plus operating deficit, tackling the many issues on council’s agenda requiring serious attention such as, the unpalatable proposed sewerage system with a price tag of up to $10,000,000, the roads on Kangaroo Island and safety issues in many parts of the island?

Furthermore, should the council be spending upwards of $50,000 on legal expenses to investigate the actions of elected members which mainly arise because of the inactions of the old guard in this council? Legal expenses used for these purposes are absolutely not necessary and should only be used in cases of fraud and or violence and such like. Will the community thank them for this nonsensical spending and why shouldn’t they be shocked when it forms part of the operating expenses of this year’s budget which will underpin the rates they will have to pay until our debts are reduced?

The feedback I am receiving in my area alone, not to mention the feedback from people in American River and Kingscote of the situation sited above, is evidence that the above actions have backfired on the people involved in these actions.

Shirley Knight
PO Box 658 Penneshaw SA 5222