A LETTER writer to the Oberon Review on February 7 ("A council circuit-breaker?") stated that a "vast" number of residents were unhappy with the council. I must be living somewhere else, because nobody I have spoken with has come across a "vast" number of malcontents.
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The writer also stated that the main grumble is about how council "does things", but offers no explanation of precisely what this means, or how he believes things should be done - just a vague complaint. The writer also comments that, in his opinion, the council got off to a "bad start" in the way it handled the fluoride issue last year. The council did not get off to a bad start - it got off to a democratic start.
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Residents were offered multiple opportunities to express their opinions at council meetings and community meeting, and many did so - some people more than once.
All councillors then studied what they had read and heard and voted accordingly. That's what democracy is all about - that's how it works. The fact that what appears to be a small number of residents did not like that decision - and it has been festering with them ever since - did not make the process undemocratic.
In this case, they might also look into themselves and ask where the disharmony they allege now exists in the community is coming from.
And as to how the council "does things". Any responsible person would consider it has been extremely tolerant, considering the abuse in print and on social media - some of it probably actionable - that a number of councillors have been subjected to in recent months.