WHEN Steve Perryman won the mayoral election from John Allen following the death of mayor Don McDonnell in September 2002, it was regarded as a huge upset victory.
Mr McDonnell served as mayor for 19 years, from 1983 until 2002 and was regarded as the “people’s mayor” and his impressive civic leadership and high standing in the community suggested he was going to be difficult to replace.
As such, it was expected deputy mayor Cr John Allen would be the favourite, especially as Cr Perryman had served only a short time in council when he decided to make his run.
But Cr Perryman’s appeal to the younger generation gave him a clear edge.
During his time as mayor he faced plenty of challenges and while unaware of what he considers his greatest achievement, the Mount Gambier Library would be high on the list.
No-one, even the most ardent library supporter, could have envisaged how it would engage the community or the success it would become and today is one of the great success stories of the city’s modern era.
On the down side, mayor Perryman faced some difficult times, particularly with the cost blow outs of the library and Main Corner.
There was one occasion when Mr Perryman addressed the council chamber as the Main Corner cost again escalated and was sitting at about $9m.
To his credit Mr Perryman, in effect told the chamber that “enough was enough” and promised there would be no further cost increases.
It showed a leader willing to speak out and put his foot down in a bid to protect ratepayers’ interest.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Mr Perryman, other costs for the project were still flowing in and in the coming weeks further costs were announced and eventually it grew past $10m.
At the time I had sympathy for Mr Perryman because he had the courage to make a stand, only to be embarrassed by other unknown costs in the coming weeks.
The thing which worried me and others at the time was he appeared to be the only person in the chamber who was concerned about escalating costs as few others went on the record in such an open and direct way as he did.
When Mr Perryman decided to step down as mayor he did not turn his back on the community and when he nominated as a councillor he was elected with a huge majority.
Since then, in many ways, Cr Perryman has been a senior statesman with other councillors and mayors seeking his advice from time to time.
I have crossed swords with Cr Perryman over numerous issues, the most recent being the Mount Gambier Community and Recreation Hub and I think it is fair to say we enjoyed a robust debate on the subject.
One of the things that worried me most was the way council at that time refused to have a ratepayer’s poll on spending $39.1m of taxpayers and ratepayers money.
It seemed to deny the democratic process but a vote was eventually held and the project is moving ahead.
In recent months the new council began to discuss several matters “in camera” or behind closed doors and while there may be some justification, the danger is it can lead to a lack of transparency.
That is why Cr Perryman’s stand last week in demanding key discussions about the recreation centre be held on the floor of council and not behind closed doors is not only significant, but reinforces the ideals of local government transparency and openness.
The public have a right to hear debate over financial discussions for this project and also how the tender process is progressing in appointing a project manager and building contractors.
And, most importantly, like the library and Main Corner, every cost, every step of the way should be reported in open council – nothing should be behind closed doors.
Cr Perryman was open and transparent when the Main Corner controversy hit and judging by his stand last week he will continue with that philosophy, which is good news for ratepayers.
Interestingly, councillors of other eras have told me it was rare for councils to go “into camera”, adding that ratepayers would not have tolerated it.
There is a message there for the present council.
