December’s council meeting is held one week earlier than usual due to Christmas, so on the second Wednesday of the month rather than the third.

After that there’s no formal meeting until February, and generally no meetings with staff involving councillors until Australia Day.

It’s a good tradition I think that, barring emergency, we all take a breath before kicking into the next year. 

Council matters are always big, covering a whole range of issues, and that’s great brain exercise even if nothing else! There is always something interesting on the table, whether interesting for me alone or for councillors as a group, as we work to achieve some goal together – which is usually both challenging and fun!

But there is always also the mass of other routine issues we are required to keep an eye on. 

And it’s for both those reasons that councillors started a portfolio system five years back, and it’s worked pretty well.

Portfolios mean we can pool our skills and time across the breadth of issues, and share duty over the finer details: which makes us more efficient.

But it also means we can work together toward common goals, deciding what we as councillors want together and how the heck to get it.

Back in the election campaign, the mayor openly opposed portfolios. So it’s kind of unsurprising that recently she chose not to be part of them.

Unsurprising perhaps, but still disappointing because council decisions are made as a group, not by the mayor alone, and portfolios have worked tremendously in enabling effective collaboration to date.

The rest of us are continuing with portfolios because they work. They really help with terrific teamwork, which is excellent!

Cr Intemann’s stories from a civic heart are her opinions, and not necessarily council’s.