#50Days50Ways - #21 - Supporting the Mudgeeraba Chamber of Commerce
This morning the Mudgeeraba Chamber of Commerce held it’s “Meet The Candidates” event. Each candidate had a chance to speak for 5 minutes on their overall plan, and then prepare a short 2 minute answer of 4 pre-prepared questions, and then there was a brief Q&A from the floor. About 50 people bought tickets and the feedback generally was that it was a deliciously catered and well run event.
The Chamber has become quite a drawcard for local businesses, creating a networking opportunity for small enterprises seeking to broaden their customer base and access new partnerships. It’s been great to work closely with them since John Kennedy took over as President and we’ve already hosted the CEO of the City of Gold Coast (Tim Baker), a launch of the the Firth Park precinct with guest speaker from Cinefly (Kai Eris) and a fantastic Christmas soiree at the Village BnB.
A few of you might be interested in my speech from this morning so here’s the transcript;
My name is Glenn Tozer and it’s currently my job to serve the 43,000 or so people in division 9 as their Councillor at the City of Gold Coast Council. I’ve been doing the job for just under 12 years and we’ve had some wonderful success and support during that time. But before I talk about what we’ve done, and what’s to come, it’s common that people ask me my background before I became Councillor, so I thought I’d start with that.
For about three years before I was elected, I served as the president of the Bonogin Valley Community Association. I also served on my predecessor’s Division 9 Advisory Committee. I was also a director and Chairman for a community radio organisation known as Juice Media Limited which broadcast on FM band 107.3. I also served on the Australian Wagyu Association as a director and served in leadership at a local church. I had been involved in community leadership in a variety of capacities for most of my working life.
My main job was to manage Government Accounts in all of Qld and NT for a company called Sensis, which was a subsidiary of Telstra, and for many decades prior had published the White Pages and Yellow Pages, as well as a bunch of digital assets. That job saw me manage over $30million in campaign value over about a decade. I took leave from that job to run for Council in 2011 and early 2012, and we beat the sitting Councillor Ted Shepherd who had served for the previous decade. At the time, the Council role was a 20% pay cut from my corporate gig.
Why did I do it then?
Well, I love my neighbourhood, and this city, and, as a young 30-something professional who was a dad of boys, I was convinced I could do a better job at engaging this community of so many families. I thought I could do better than my council predecessor who had reached his 60’s and, according to others who told me, had become complacent in his role.
Every day I remember that; don’t get complacent; which is why I try to write back to every resident who emails me, I have engaging and participatory social media, we host or support over 50 events each year, and I try to have a positive relationship with the media that enables me to promote our local area and celebrate awesome achievements of others, even when they don’t involve me.
Over the past decade of service, we’ve focussed on, first of all, talking about our work every day, keeping people informed. The 5000 followers of my Facebook page get updates almost every day of projects we are working on or events coming up and stories to celebrate in our community. We now send out about 5000 emailed newsletters each month or so too, as well as posting 12000 printed ones about quarterly. We see that communication as central to our success. But there are particular projects I am proud of and this is probably the right forum to list a few for you;
- Since 2012, we’ve had about $40m allocated to road projects
- We’ve run Active School Travel programs that have facilitated over $5m in pathway upgrades around schools
- Delivered a new community building for the Mudgeeraba Soccer Club
- Delivered a renovated community centre at Firth Park
- Delivered new and upgraded playgrounds in almost every suburb (Gilston, Natural Bridge, Lower Beechmont, Bonogin, Mudgeeraba, Reedy Creek, Worongary, Tallai, Springbrook)
- Supported Bushcare, Landcare and Bioblitz activities
- Run or supported over 50 community events each year
- Supported and help grow the Mudgeeraba Street Party, Storyfest, The Doyles, Paws at the Park, and the Bonogin Valley Rural Fire Brigade Open Day
- Delivered a green bin service to almost every household
- Expanded the cemetery so locals can remember their loved ones locally.
- Planned and designed new eco-tourism day use areas at Bonogin and Austinville
- Planned and designed a new community centre in Lower Beechmont
- Expanded the mobile library service
- Grown and promoted the Mudgeeraba restaurant and café economy
- Supported and livened the music and arts sector in the Division 9 hinterland
- Started our work with Griffith University MATE Bystander program to reduce domestic and family violence in Division 9
- Planned the Firth Park Sports Precinct expansion and funded the 1st stage
These are just a few of the things I’m proud of.
But there’s more to come. If I’m re-elected we’ll continue our work on;
- the Firth Park Sports Precinct, delivering our multi-million netball upgrade while continuing planning and funding for baseball, AFL, Cricket, skate activity, a high performance training centre and improving the parking and open space assets.
- Continue our work with local Neighbourhood Watch and Police teams to reduce the incidence of crime where we can and improve community safety, and participation amongst local residents.
- Continue our work on the Equine Sports Plan including the strategic facilities planning at the Mudgeeraba Showgrounds
- Deliver the Lower Beechmont Community Centre and continue upgrades to the Mudgeeraba Community Centre such as the new lockers being installed this month.
- Design and finalise the construction of our $1m+ playground upgrade to Hinterland Regional Park
- Finalise design and deliver the multi-million upgrade to the Mudgeeraba Aquatic Centre
- Improve the lighting and sense of place in the Village Green with fairy lights
- Expand our focus on eco-tourism options in the hinterland including walking, mountain biking, and environmental tourism options.
These are the priorities you, the community, have set for me via emails, social media messages, letters, and speaking with me at the dozens of events I attend every month.
And the ones I’ve mentioned are just the start.
Like always we’ll be regularly inviting feedback through the GChaveyoursay surveys and community events we run, because we know that the best ideas come from collaboration and teamwork. There’s no doubt that there’s an unlimited supply of good ideas, and a limited budget each year, and that means sometimes we have to say “no”, or at least “Not Now”.
But from the beginning that inclusive and collaborative approach has been our recipe for success.
We don’t intend to stop now, so in March I hope you’ll #Vote1Tozer to ensure we can keep our momentum going.
(L-R) Brad Hauck (Mudgeeraba Rural Fire Brigade), Nic Rone (Varsity Lakes Sports House), Cr Glenn Tozer