Troy Fowler is ecstatic to be elected as one of the 11 new MidCoast Council councillors.
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Mr Fowler headed the Group E ticket for the Liberal Party team, and it was his first time running in an election.
Although this is all very new for Mr Fowler and, for the moment, he is feeling a little overwhelmed, he is excited for the opportunities to come.
“It’s for the future of my children and the generations that come that we do the right thing now for the future,” Mr Fowler said.
At 42 years of age, Mr Fowler is one of the younger councillors. He is happy with the mix of people elected and sees team work as imperative.
“I think if we all pull our hats off as we walk into the council room and treat it as MidCoast Council and not areas, we should do fine,” Mr Fowler said.
“If we don’t work together, we’re the ones that are going to look like idiots. It’s a basic thing, working together as a team to make sure that our council is fit for the future and becomes prosperous.”
Mr Fowler has 25 years business experience, and currently runs a BWS Bottleshop in Forster. He believes Council should be run as a business, and says, as with any business, that cost of doing business is a major asset.
“The issue that I’ve found is that we don’t treat this as a business. When we have issues in our local area we just seem to put the rates up.”
Mr Fowler likens the MidCoast Council ratepayers to being shareholders in the “business” of Council.
“I shouldn’t be having to come back to you on a yearly basis and asking for extra money. If I had money in a company, if they lost all my money and then came back and asked for more, I’d be telling them to get stuffed,” Mr Fowler said.
“We really need to start looking at the processes and working out how to make money for our community, not just taking money from them.”
Mr Fowler is “not saying yes or not at the present time” to the question of whether he will be standing for mayor.