I WOULD like to offer a comment on a letter published in the Oberon Review on February 20 from Hardy Draheim, president of the Oberon Shire Residents and Ratepayers Association (OSR and RA).
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I am relatively new to Oberon and over the past 12 months or so I have been following the ratepayers forum Facebook page and various letters to this paper from members of this group with both amusement and sometimes disgust.
I take issue with comments made in last week's letter to the editor, including "public appearances by the mayor at every event and photo opportunity going in town" and "continuous self-praise and credit-taking, etc ... tends to destroy credibility".
These comments infer that mayor Kathy Sajowitz only attends events and meetings to further her own self-interest and get her photograph taken and that she talks herself up all the time.
I have personally attended several events and meetings also attended by the mayor and have found her to be modest in her approach and the fact that she attends so many meetings and functions tells me that she is both committed to the community of Oberon and to carrying out her role conscientiously.
Most thinking members of the community appreciate this. Talking positively about council and the town of Oberon is surely her job, Mr Draheim, and a job she does well in my and many others' opinion.
It is also stated in the letter that "Communication frequency and volume of Oberon Council and the mayor is plentiful". Isn't this what your group wants? I would be more concerned if there was no communication.
Speaking of credibility, if this group purporting to represent the ratepayers and residents of Oberon wants to build any credibility and integrity at all, it needs to take a look inwards, or at the very least rein in the president.
His words and actions reflect on members of this group and are counterproductive to whatever it is it wants to achieve and, I would hasten to add, sometimes border on defamation and would be open to legal redress, in my view.
I offer the following advice in good faith: OSR and RA should stick with the issues that affect Oberon, stop reposting comments from other pages and attempting to spin a connection to Oberon that does not exist and do away with personal attacks.
