A third ticket has declared itself for the Orange City Council election race, led by a former state candidate.
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Bernard Fitzsimon, who stood for Labor at the Orange byelection in November, will lead the ticket, supported by Central West Mowers and Heating owner Ben Miller and Glenroi Community Group president Melissa Hatton.
The remainder of the ticket is yet to be confirmed, but it will not be party-affiliated.
Mr Fitzsimon said it would be a mix of age and wisdom and youth and vigour.
“We would all like to leave behind something better than we found for younger people,” he said.
Mr Fitzsimon believed many state and federal issues also had roots in local government.
He wanted to see Orange City Council act on jobs, housing affordability and parking at the hospital.
“The council has spent a lot of money on land banking, why not use a small portion for affordable housing?” he said.
“We don’t need developers’ margins.”
He also believed there was room for improvement in procurement policies to involve more of the region’s businesses in council contracts, and additional outdoor, ground-level parking at Orange Health Service was insufficient.
“The solution is a multi-level car park in close proximity to the hospital with an aerial bridge across to the hospital,” he said.
“We need to put more pressure on.”
However, he said the ticket would not support the proposed industrial business park at Orange Airport.
“We’re all for growth in this area, but that growth has to be sustainable and I think the environmental aspects are too big to get around,” he said.
“Does there have to be a groundswell that gets rid of the current council before they’ll listen?”
But he also believed roads, rates and rubbish would still factor in, supporting continued weekly red bin collections, a return to the bulky waste collection and pushing for state funding for the Northern Distributor Road.
“There’s no point attributing blame but Orange ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay twice for that road,” he said.
He also said a rate freeze was needed.
“We would never get a rate cut, but it could be a nice display of support for struggling local businesses,” he said.