Westville residents’ concerns to be addressed at public meeting
EDITOR – I refer to the letter from Disillusioned, Westville in the 1 May edition, which was headed ‘Do authorities care about Westville?‘. I share your correspondent’s concern, and sometimes ask myself the same question. I can answer the question in part by informing your readers that there is an inter-departmental committee which meets each …
EDITOR – I refer to the letter from Disillusioned, Westville in the 1 May edition, which was headed ‘Do authorities care about Westville?‘. I share your correspondent’s concern, and sometimes ask myself the same question.
I can answer the question in part by informing your readers that there is an inter-departmental committee which meets each month (on the third Tuesday of the month) at which representatives from most of the municipal departments meet to report on progress made by the different departments in resolving problems which have been brought to the municipality’s attention through the municipality’s formal call centre complaints channel (and to which reference numbers have been allocated). Some useful progress is often made between the departments themselves, and between councillors and the departments, from the discussions at those meetings.
Unfortunately, some departments regularly fail to attend the meetings, and this reduces the effectiveness of this committee.
There are issues beyond the control of the committee. These usually occur where the services of outside contractors are used, for example, for weed spraying, for mowing of verges, for clearing of drains, et cetera.
In order to bring to the attention of the municipality the specific issues which are of concern to ratepayers and residents in Westville and in Cowies Hill, my colleague, Councillor Bruce Sutcliffe and I are arranging for a public meeting to be held at the Westville Civic Centre on Wednesday, 27 May at 7pm. A specific agenda is in the process of being compiled.
Bruce and I will try to arrange for suitable municipal officials to attend to meeting to answer questions from residents. In addition, Bruce and I will ensure that we are suitably informed on the issues so that we can contribute to the discussions on the specific issues.
More details of the meeting will be conveyed to residents and ratepayers through all possible channels over the next few weeks.
Warren Burne
DA PR Councillor
