Tamworth council elections 2021: accountant Stephen Maher said his council run was triggered by dodgy decision making

The 30-year business owner, who runs his own accounting firm on Peel Street, put his hand up to stand for office in the December local government elections.

He said he aspires to be a "prudent" councillor, but he's also involved in "actively promoting" the facilities and resources that the community needs to have a better way of life.

Mr Maher was driven to stand by a series of what he called 'poor decisions' by Tamworth Regional Council.

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"The trigger one was the proposal to sell off the Olympic swimming pool, which I thought was a poor decision," he said.

"In my view there's been a lack of maintenance. Council admitted there has been no substantial maintenance done on it for about a decade.

"The thing that struck me about it was the poor consultation ... just not taking into account the consideration of the whole pool users."

He said that single issue is indicative of a broader issue with consultation by Tamworth Regional Council, though conceded the body had improved in the last few years.

If elected the chartered accountant would be one of the few councillors to own his own business.

The accountant said he would bring "a bit more rigour" to project development and cost benefit analyses for major local projects.

Mr Maher said he was concerned about the financial prudence and social licence of projects like the Tamworth intermodal project.

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"There is a business case for it, but you have to wonder what assessment they made of competition, what the market was for the whole project, like it's off a spur line," he said.

"It's a $50 million expenditure and some of it was, particularly in the early stages, fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants."

Mr Maher claimed that most of Tamworth's recreation and community ground has been classified by council as "operational" which allows councillors to sell it in a closed meeting. He wants it reclassified as "community land". Consultation on the Sports and Recreation Strategic Plan, which proposed selling 30 per cent of grounds and parks, was inadequate, he said.

"I'm really concerned about considerations of selling off green space," he said.

"I think a lot of those grounds need to be preserved for future expansion.

"There's areas in Tamworth that haven't got a decent access to a park. I think that's not a good thing. A better approach to our green spaces, grounds parks, recreation sports grounds, that's fairly big on my list."

A member of the Tamworth University Reference Group, the Tamworth Regional Residents and Ratepayers Association and the Business Chamber, Mr Maher said he's long taken an interest in regional development.

Elections for Tamworth council will be held on December 4.

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