Not from the Mayor

Some readers missed the Mayor’s earlier message and have enquired why the regular Mayoral column has not been appearing.

So to reiterate: Due to pressure of work Mayor Napier has decided to only communicate with residents by way of the Star three times a year. The only column from the Mayor for the remainder of this year will be in September. Next year it will probably be February, June and October.

The Star team are very disappointed at the Mayor’s decision and I have expressed this to her. The Mayor’s column has been a regular feature right from the first issue of the Star. The previous Mayor considered a Star column an excellent way to keep residents informed on council business.

It is planned for a councillor to provide a column each month. However councillors meet for council business every six weeks so some months, such as this one, their one will also be missing. The Mayor is on site daily and is, or should be, up to date on what is actually happening at any given time and happy to keep residents informed on it.

It is unusual for a mayor to be reluctant to communicate with ratepayers and residents. By contrast our northern neighbours’ mayors seem to never miss an opportunity to report on issues by way of the media.

Mike Beckett