One of the delights of coming to live in Jandowae was the discovery of the continued existence of Personal Responsibility, which no longer exists in the city. In the city there is nothing you can do if the postman regularly puts mail addressed to other people in your mailbox, and mail addressed to you in some-one else's mail box; if the water coming out the taps suddenly becomes muddy; or if every other week the garbage man spills half your garbage on the road. You can certainly ring up and complain, but even if you can get past the recorded messages and the announcements that 'your call is important to us', you quickly discover that nobody cares if you have a problem. And if you were to dare ask for the name and address of the culprit you would either have the call terminated or be subjected to a lecture about the need for privacy.
So why have some councilors at the Wambo shire decided to get rid of Personal Responsibility from the Jandowae Garbage service? The result of this decision, announced by a misleading circular from the Wambo shire council Chief Executive officer Lee Vohland, can only make the service as bad as that in the cities. Either the councilors do not know they are discarding Personal Responsibility — which means they are fools — or they do not care they are discarding Personal Responsibility— which means they are knaves.
I have invited Councilors G R Jackson and D J Browne to explain their actions (17/4/2007) but so far they have remained silent.
Paul Cassidy on behalf of the discarded Garbage contractors Paul and Leanne Cassidy, says:
"I came to this job 17 years ago and since then have worked 52 weeks a year: no sick days and no strikes. In that time I have had 4 weeks holidays.
We have introduced Wheelie bins into the shire. We try to keep the service personal e.g. walking in for bins for elderly and disabled people.
I was quite willing to work this job as long as I can. The friendly people made this the best job I ever had.
Before the Dollar Blocks I knew my job was safe, but when the shire started growing I knew it wouldn't be long before someone would be breathing down my neck.
I apologise for any inconvenience I caused over the transition period. I wish the new contractor the best of luck."
Once if you had a problem with garbage you could have popped round to Paul Cassidy's place, now you can ring the council — see if they care.
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