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Katie Woolf spoke with Palmerston Council Mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that the local government elections took place over
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  Speaker 1: the weekend and some very clear front runners. As we'd
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: said yesterday on the show, convat Scarlets obviously in Darwin,
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  Speaker 1: and Athena Pasco Bell in Palmerston, and she joins me
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  Speaker 1: on the line right now. Good morning to you, Athena,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, congratulations. You must have been pretty happy with
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  Speaker 1: well with what looks like quite a convincing re election.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it was quite humbling, I guess, to be re
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  Speaker 2: elected with a seventy five percent primary vote. So that's yeah,
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  Speaker 2: really good.
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  Speaker 1: Now what is the priority for you now, Athena? Obviously
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  Speaker 1: another four years. I know that you've been working very
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  Speaker 1: hard in Palmerston over the last four years, but what
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  Speaker 1: is the priority for you now?
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  Speaker 2: We do have a number of projects that we were
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  Speaker 2: looking to progress and that will happen in the next
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  Speaker 2: council term. So there's the Swimming Poor redevelopment, which is
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  Speaker 2: a fifteen million dollar redevelopment, and just a few weeks
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  Speaker 2: ago we announced that we secured a Crown lease in
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  Speaker 2: Zakoli to develop the community hub there. So the dog
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  Speaker 2: park for that area will be going ahead by November.
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  Speaker 2: And the remaining elements as soon as the new council's
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  Speaker 2: announced without community consultation, and will include things like a
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  Speaker 2: community hall, potentially a library, community guard and a large
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  Speaker 2: piece of play equipment and other things that the community
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  Speaker 2: in that area requires. So that's a couple of major projects.
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  Speaker 2: There's still a lot of outcomes to deliver from our
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  Speaker 2: community Plan, so we had started progress on that. Water
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  Speaker 2: efficiency is probably one of the next major areas that
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  Speaker 2: we'll need to look at. We've done quite a bit
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  Speaker 2: of work in making council facilities efficient so LED lighting. Internally,
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  Speaker 2: we've replaced all of our street lights with LED and
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  Speaker 2: we've also started installing solar panels on council facilities. But
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  Speaker 2: now we'll need to focus on water efficiency as well.
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  Speaker 2: And we've just launched our local economics plan, so now
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  Speaker 2: we'll start to focus on encouraging businesses to set up
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  Speaker 2: and grow in Palmerston and Desya.
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  Speaker 1: What is the process now for the council in terms
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  Speaker 1: of in terms of you know, the new people who
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  Speaker 1: are obviously going to be elected as aldermen, When does
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  Speaker 1: all of that happen.
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  Speaker 2: We will have the official declaration from the Electoral Commission
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  Speaker 2: on the thirteenth of September, and then the council will
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  Speaker 2: basically launch straight into a number of workshops for inductions.
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  Speaker 2: Excuse me, you're right.
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  Speaker 1: So a declaration on the thirteenth of September and you're fine,
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  Speaker 1: and then obviously some workshops I reckon that sounds like
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  Speaker 1: a really good idea making sure that any Alderman that
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  Speaker 1: is indeed elected that they've got the opportunity to learn
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  Speaker 1: more about exactly how the council works.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they will learn about how council works, what
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  Speaker 2: their responsibilities are, expectations of the rest of the council
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  Speaker 2: and the community for what they need to deliver and
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  Speaker 2: how they need to do that, and also run down
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  Speaker 2: on our existing and planned projects so that they have
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  Speaker 2: an idea of what has happened in the past and
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  Speaker 2: where the last council is heading to so hopefully give
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  Speaker 2: them an informed choice then on how we move forward.
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  Speaker 2: But probably the most important thing is that they understand
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  Speaker 2: their responsibilities as aldermen or counselors, and they will get
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  Speaker 2: to make that choice as well whether they are called
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  Speaker 2: alderman or counselors. But really what is what are their obligations,
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  Speaker 2: what they can do, what they can't do and then
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  Speaker 2: you know, hopefully we can move forward as a team
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  Speaker 2: and start to work on our next council term.
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  Speaker 1: And obviously are there are still votes to count, but
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  Speaker 1: it is looking as though you are going to have
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  Speaker 1: some faces. No doubt that brings a bit of new
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  Speaker 1: energy and a different feel to the council.
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  Speaker 2: Look, yes it will. And we had two existing aldermen
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  Speaker 2: who chose not to recontest, so there will be at
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  Speaker 2: least two. Yeah, but we won't know the outcome until
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  Speaker 2: the preferences are actually sorted out. But yeah, so there
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  Speaker 2: will be a few new faces on the council and
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  Speaker 2: it's really important that they are brought up to speed
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  Speaker 2: and that they're made to feel comfortable as well. Coming
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  Speaker 2: into the chamber for the first time could be a
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  Speaker 2: bit daunting the people who aren't familiar with the formal
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  Speaker 2: meeting procedures and things like that as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt it would be. You know, when I
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  Speaker 1: think back five six years ago the Palmerston Council, you
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  Speaker 1: know many would say that it was shrouded in controversy
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  Speaker 1: for a while there. Since you have been in that
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  Speaker 1: mayor's role, it seems to be a very steady ship.
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  Speaker 1: Has that been a real priority for you over the
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  Speaker 1: last few years and again now as you go into
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  Speaker 1: those next four years.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the priority was really steadying the ship, as you said,
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  Speaker 3: making sure that the council had a very clear direction
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  Speaker 3: on what it should be doing, and we did that
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  Speaker 3: by engaging a company called Democracy Co to work with
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  Speaker 3: the community on our community plan. So it was really
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  Speaker 3: important that we gave the community that power to tell
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  Speaker 3: the council what it was they wanted council to deliver
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  Speaker 3: for the community as a whole, and that community planned
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  Speaker 3: now won three.
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  Speaker 2: Awards, so we're very proud of that. It's been embedded
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  Speaker 2: deeply within council, so all of the staff's position descriptions
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  Speaker 2: aligned to it, all the reports the Council aligned to
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  Speaker 2: the community plan and having to gain the trust of
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  Speaker 2: the community was very important. So it's important that this
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  Speaker 2: next council remains very steady and focused on what it
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  Speaker 2: is that we are doing. So remind people that council's
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  Speaker 2: got a very unique role. We shouldn't be involving ourselves
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  Speaker 2: in other levels of politics. That's not our responsibility. That's
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  Speaker 2: there and we have very clear outcomes that we need
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  Speaker 2: to deliver for our community. That's what we should be
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  Speaker 2: focusing on, so maintaining that steady ship, retaining the confidence
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  Speaker 2: of the community and then making sure that we're able
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  Speaker 2: to move our community forward. Well.
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  Speaker 1: Athena pasco Bell the mayor. Again, I know that some
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  Speaker 1: of those votes are still to be counted, but like
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  Speaker 1: we've heard, very convincing when by the look of things,
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  Speaker 1: we really appreciate your time this morning and all the
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  Speaker 1: best for the next four years.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. That's Athena pasco Bell there, who has been
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  Speaker 1: re elected as the Palmerston mayor.