Over the first couple of months in the job and with the responsibility of helping lead Byron Shire into the next four years, I’ve focused on one main idea-changing culture. Changing the culture between councillors, changing the culture between councillors and council staff and changing the culture between Council and the rest of the community. I decided to commit myself to building bridges, moving away from competition and toward cooperation and positively advocating for innovation, action and sustainable development. I believe there is a great yearning in Byron Shire for this. So, I began, believing that I as did this, others waiting for a climate to allow for this would eagerly join in. I figured that if only a few in the Shire join in, it means I’m naive; if many in the Shire join in, we change culture. Many are joining in: councillors are investing in each other, Council staff are having faith they can take a risk without being attacked for it and the wider community are beginning to talk about actions, innovations and getting things done. Slowly the cultures of risk aversion, inaction and adversarial battling are eroding.
We needed to wage some pretty fierce battles to win the war against rampant and inappropriate development and from those wishing to exploit the quality of our community for purely commercial gains. We largely won these battles, though with some damage to community harmony. It is now time to win the peace. The stars are aligning: the GFC has made everyone aware of the need for more sustainable economic vision, everyone has come to appreciate the special quality of our Shire due to low rise buildings and high level community engagement, everyone has come to appreciate the efforts to ensure our environmental stewardship and everyone wants leadership across all sectors of our community that is inclusive, positive and energetic. As the stars are aligning, I want to seize the opportunity help change the culture help make Byron Shire the world leader in showcasing community, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Mayor Simon Richardson 
Hi Simon , this is john helman..I don’t know whether this is a good place to talk about Duncan and Rose’s lack of support for community recommendations re:caravan parks in Brunz..We want to get a recission motion in place. It’s a difficult, time consuming issue and Duncan doesn’t fully understand it.neither does Rose.Duncan’s lines on maps and complicated lot numbers and parts of lot numbers completely confused every one including his good self and you and me.This on top of a crowded agenda and a new council .They caved in to pressure from the permanent residents who were revved up by NCAT and NCHP-Jim Bolger and Colin Woodbry.They were going to be well looked after in the original (our )motion anyway.
It should be remembered that we, the public have a soft spot for the needs of old, permanent, caravan park residents who are about to be thrown out of their homes for one reason or another. and NCHP/NCAT-Jim Bolger and Colin Woodbry will exploit this to the max so they can expand their caravan parks and stuff up Brunz in the process. strangely, they really couldn’t give a damn about the permanents
But first things first. Lets get the necessary recission motion in place.
Respectfully yours.
Hi John. Yes i think what occurred last dDecember was far from ideal. I’ll try and rectify as I can. Cheers John, hope your crazy season was enjoyable.
Thanks Simon,
I have since located your council email address so can send submissions to you there.
John Helman