Council elections: Mark Rodda and the road to Tamworth Regional Council

Incumbent councillor Mark Rodda says it takes more than good intentions to pave a road.

He says Evans Street in Westdale is the perfect example of our local government failing to deliver on the first R in its core business of roads, rates, and rubbish.

"The residents told me they were promised in 1974 the completion of kerb and guttering within a year or two-year span. After almost 50 years they're still waiting," Cr Rodda said.

He said fixing Evans Street - as well as a number of other roads in the region - would be his main priority if re-elected to Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) in September.

"It's probably quite an indictment on our council that this basic stuff in a very established subdivision of Tamworth is still not completed," Cr Rodda said.

"I did get a promise [from TRC] it was going to commence sometime last year or this year and I'm very keen to see it happen."

The third-term councillor was first elected in 2012 and says roads have been a major priority during his dozen-year career on local government.

But it's not just fixing the roads, he says, it's fixing them the right way.

Cr Rodda says Carthage Street and the western side of Burgmanns Lane are examples of roads which always seem to need repairs despite receiving frequent attention.

"I wonder at what point do you tear up a road and start again, because so often you see them patched, and patched, and patched again," he said.

When asked whether he cops any criticism for still harping on this issue after being on council for 12 years, Cr Rodda said he's "only one of nine councillors".

"Whether it be TRC or the state and federal governments, big bureaucracies are very difficult to start steering in different directions, and when you're only one of nine voices sometimes the priorities are not fixing roads like Evans Street, it's other things like vanity projects," he said.

"But I think if council is not fixing things like this, then I don't see why we should be wasting or spending ratepayers' money on bigger projects when we haven't done the basic things."

The former deputy mayor said he'd rather rack up a number of "small wins" than take credit for any big projects.

"Thinks like this will get done and I'm happy to wait - and the long-suffering people of Evans Street have waited decades for it - but if this gets done it's a small win, and not only necessarily a win for me but a win for the community and residents who pay significant rates to have good infrastructure and services," Cr Rodda said.

When he's not at council meetings or talking to residents about the roads the born-and-bred Tamworthian works as a public servant. He also makes time for his six kids and his wife, Julie.

But politics has always played a large role in Mark Rodda's life.

He says he vividly remembers the first local government election he ever voted in. In fact, he's "one of those types of nerd" who still holds on to the how-to-vote cards from it.

He recalls how back in the day you had to vote for 12 councillors; now you only have to vote for five.

"The first two or three I had no issues with, but then I really started to struggle," Cr Rodda said.

He says he encourages people to research more than he did back then, and find out as much as they can about all the candidates.

"People consciously know their number one, number two, and number three, but then they start to struggle, so they just put potentially anyone down for four, five, six, and so on," Cr Rodda said.

That might not matter so much in a state or federal election where only one seat is up for grabs, but with nine council seats available those latter preferences make all the difference.

"Charles Impy, who I understand is standing again, he got more primary votes [in 2021] than the candidate that won position number nine," Cr Rodda said.

The Leader will continue bringing you more profiles of every candidate on the ballot as the September 14 local government election approaches.

Stay tuned