2016 depa elections delivers four new brooms
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- Published: Thursday, 24 March 2016 12:49
Four vacancies to be filled and four exciting new candidates elected today. Nominations closed at midday and the NSW Electoral Commission has confirmed that we have the right number of candidates for the right number of positions. Nice.
There are ten positions on the Committee of Management. One President, two Vice Presidents, six Committee Members and the Secretary. The Secretary has a four-year term, so is not up for election this year, and the five current members of the Committee who renominated have been declared elected.
While a new broom sweeps clean, an old broom knows the dirty corners best. (Gee, it’s hard to go past a couple of great ancient sayings/proverbs/platitudes.) So six existing old brooms and four new brooms are a great combination.
President Andrew Spooner has been re-elected. Andrew has been a member of the Committee for close to 20 years and President for the last four. He is the Sustainable City and Environment Manager at Campbelltown City Council.
Jo Doheny and Jamie Loader have been re-elected as Vice Presidents. Both are also long-standing members of the Committee and Vice Presidents with a long history of commitment as delegates- Jo at Gosford and Jamie from the bush and at Parramatta. Jo is Senior Landuse Planner at Gosford and Jamie is Manager Building Certification at Wyong.
Joanne Dunkerley has been a member of the Committee for the past four years and is now an Urban Planner at Newcastle after leaving Great Lakes last year. Joanne is re-elected. Also re-elected is Vince Galletto. This will be Vince’s second term on the Committee of Management and he is the Team Leader - Building and Development Advisory Service at Ryde.
That’s the old brooms out of the way. The four new brooms, in alphabetical order, are:
Steven Cook
Steven is a Senior Planner at Wagga Wagga City Council and has been our delegate since 2008, when he was our only member. He recruited vigorously (we now have 16 members) and he was our delegate during The Troubles of 2010 and 2011 which, amongst other things, involved some bans, had the Council forced by the IRC into calling for an apology from that boofhead Peter Hurst and among a number of recommendations to resolve the problems, delivered a recommendation from IRC Deputy President Grayson that the Council had an obligation as part of its duty of care to protect the professional reputations of staff. Nice precedent.
Steven had surgery for cancer in 2013 and 2014, our August 2014 issue carried the story of then GM Phil Pinyon (suspended and resigned last year) and director Andrew Crackenthorp (currently suspended) refusing to provide additional sick leave. Steven has survived cancer and working for both Phil and Andrew, and will bring a real resilience to the Committee.
Renah Givney
Renah is a planner employed as a Senior Assessment Officer at Coffs Harbour City Council, where she has worked since 2007. Renah has been our delegate at Coffs Harbour City Council since 2014 and has been our delegate during the long-running, complicated and seemingly interminable dispute arising from their restructure (which earned Coffs our nomination in our 2015 HR awards) and courageously supported a member to file a grievance against a bullying misogynist. A real asset to the Committee.
Brendan Hayes
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Brendan has been a depa stalwart everywhere he has worked - in both metropolitan and country councils. He has been our delegate, representative on consultative committees and Chair of a Consultative Committee too. He is a foundation and active member of EDAP, the most successful surviving regional representative of the professions involved in development and environmental control. Brendan is the Director Environmental Services at Weddin Shire, which has its centre at Grenfell in the State’s south west. A jewel in the crown of the Western wedge of the state and a timely representative for a very, very big region.
Michael Middleton
Michael is the Health Team Leader at Penrith City Council and was an active and capable delegate for us at Holroyd before he moved to Penrith last year. He is acting as a co-delegate at Penrith and will bring a measured mind and enthusiasm to that job as well as the Committee. Michael will be our second representative for Greater Sydney - assuming that Penrith and Campbelltown are part of greater Sydney.
Congratulations to the four new members of the Committee. You can read the policy statements of the ten candidates here.
The new Committee takes office from 1 May and will first meet in our annual strategic planning conference on 9 and 10 May. It will be an exciting year for everyone.