Ed, The long term sustainability of the States councils is the subject of a damning report from the Queensland Audit Office. ‘Sound familiar? It should! According to the report councils have difficulty in “Calculating their budgets and managing key assets”. They seem to have a “Lack of resources, lack of skills, or leadership”. Surprise, surprise: “Infrastructure assets deteriorate or fail faster than they can afford to replace them”. The Audit Report claims that Councils “Jeopardize the growth of their local economies and the health and well being of their communities”. Management of the hundreds of millions of dollars of Council assets is not a skill pulled from sending a junior member of the Executive to a couple of seminars and conferences. It’s a discipline that comes from years of formal study and even more years of professional practice. Clarence Valley Council needs renewal. The newly elected Council shows promise. So to the Councillors: Do what needs to be done and do it quickly. Ian Saunders, Maclean