Former history lecturer Julia Wells says that becoming a fulltime municipal councillor has enabled her to fully available to execute the tasks at hand.
Former history lecturer Julia Wells says that becoming a fulltime municipal councillor has enabled her to fully available to execute the tasks at hand.
"I can now respond to issues such as disasters or attend out-of-town workshops for days at very short notice," says the head of the council’s Budget,Treasury and Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
She said council activities often clashed with her job as Rhodes University lecturer, which she left last September. Ten months later, she has no regrets about her decision as she finds the task of delivering services to the community rewarding.
Wells said the municipality’s IDP reflects the needs of the Makana community and whether or not the municipality can afford to deliver on them. She added that unfunded projects, clearly marked as such, found their way into the IDP due to the council’s emphasis on "recording the projects in a right way".
The IDP also distinguishes between projects with established sources of funding and projects marked as "in-house". Wells explained that implementation costs of in-house projects are paid for by the municipality’s own resources, and so they do not require additional funds.
Ward-based approach
She added that national government plans to introduce a ward-based planning approach towards the development of IDPs.
She added that national government plans to introduce a ward-based planning approach towards the development of IDPs.
"I’m excited about the ward planning approach because it makes use of ward committees which work with ward councillors," she said.
She recalled that for the nine years she has been a member of the budget, treasury and IDP committees she has always been "surprised by how the Auditor-General (AG) judges you on things you don’t expect them to". However, she maintained that the municipality has a comprehensive plan to deal with the last year’s adverse audit.
"Audits are unpredictable by nature, because auditors look not just at finances but also other issues such as assets," she said.
She added that some queries the AG raised last year had to be dealt with by the municipality’s corporate services directorate.
New hope
Wells also said the municipality’s infrastructural needs, such as ensuring a constant water supply, are too big for them to address.
Wells also said the municipality’s infrastructural needs, such as ensuring a constant water supply, are too big for them to address.
"At the moment we are trying to cost our needs, our infrastructure seems to be older than that of other places," she said.
She has renewed hope for the maintenance of the infrastructure, sparked by the newly-established ministry of planning, headed by Trevor Manuel, which indicates national government’s "fresh commitment" to aligning spheres of government.
She commended the municipality’s recovery rate for rates and services debts owed by residents, government departments and businesses. She said 85% of current accounts have been paid up, but was quick to add that due to the global recession this rate was gradually dropping.
