From Hilltops Council – John Piper

I’m pleased to be able to do this column as one of the new Councillors and coincidently the oldest on the new Hilltops Council. I have only lived in the Hilltops area for six years, having spent my life in Wollongong.

My wife Sandi and I moved to the beautiful Boorowa - seeking a tree change, and found that the whole of the Hilltops area is a photographers delight especially when the canola fields are ablaze with colour.

The Asian tourists must have agreed as I saw them scramble over the fence to be photographed in amongst the canola.

I joined the local Boorowa Bushfire Brigade and have fought many fires local and afar – from Kempsey to Adelong.

I decided to stand for Hilltops Council, after Wendy Tuckerman was successful in gaining a state political seat and we at Boorowa, were left without any representation. I said to my wife, if she let me get a puppy I wouldn’t stand, but she said ‘No’, so now I’m a Councillor.

I’m finding it a lot harder being a Councillor than I thought it would be. Let me explain - having had my own business in Wollongong, if things needed doing I did it or arranged for someone to do it. But now, when people ask for help, I can’t just jump in and help, there is a certain way you have to go about it. It’s called the ‘bureaucratic’ way. This road has a lot of ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signs on it, but eventually it gets to the same place, just more frustratingly slower.

Being a new Councillor involves a lot of reading. This is necessary in order to give an informed opinion of matters coming before Council. We as new Councillors are lucky to have a few very experienced Councillors to help us along and ask questions of.

I must admit it’s far more involved than I expected, but I wouldn’t swap it not even for my puppy, which I still haven’t got.

Councillor John Piper