NEW Logan mayor Jon Raven is promising to investigate the possibility of a community advisory panel when he starts his first four-year tenure.
Cr Raven’s landslide victory in Saturday’s mayoral election saw him pick up almost 56% of the primary vote, well ahead of nearest rival Brett Raguse with 30%.
“For too long decisions have been made by councillors and staff,” Cr Raven said.
“While we always try to consider what we think the community wants, it’s time for us to engage community leaders as trusted advisors.”
During his campaign, Cr Raven said his time as councillor would enable him to “hit the ground running” as mayor.
On Sunday, he said one of the first big tasks would be to “get stuck into the budget”.
Part of this would be to reform the way rates are charged, including a cap on payment discounts.
Under current budget measures, owners of large properties are entitled to high discounts if they pay their rates bill on time – a saving not always passed onto tenants or customers, according to Cr Raven.
“This brings us in line with the rest of the state. What we do with the extra money is something that will have to be discussed with councillors,” he said.
“I fired a warning shot at the organisation, so I expect that we should be able to achieve the first couple of steps of rates reform in this budget.”
Cr Raven thanked his opponents for giving people of the city a choice, but said voters had looked to a young energetic council.
“I focused on the positive and how we can make Logan great, with hope and ambition rather than looking at the past.
“The people of Logan said they want young energetic leaders, rather than sitting around keeping the lights on, and I am promising to be out on the ground hearing what it is that people most want within our communities.
“I’m excited to be delivering on my election platform which was based upon big, ambitious targets that lift the city up.”
Mr Raguse said it was important to get behind the new mayor.
“At the end of the day, I said I believed I had something much better to offer the city, but now the council as a whole has to come up with a vision,” he said.
“Nobody really knows where Logan is going. I am concerned that we might not have the true independence in council that we’d like to see.”
However, Mr Raguse said he’d spoken to the new mayor on Sunday morning.
“You’ve got the mandate. Do us proud,” he said he told him.
Cr Raven said he would be out thanking the people of the city over the next two weeks, waving from street corners – “I have immense gratitude to the people of Logan. Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Latest polling had Cr Raven with 55.90% of the vote, Mr Raguse with 29.96% and James Reid with 14.14%.
