Scott Groat is unhappy about the amount of ratepayers’ money council is spending on court cases. Photo: Griffith City Council.
Rankins Springs canola farmer Scott Groat has vowed to push for more common sense, flexibility and transparency in decision-making after being elected Griffith deputy mayor.
The 62-year-old edged Cr Jenny Ellis 5-4 in a recent council meeting vote for a 12-month term to be the second-in-charge.
Cr Anne Napoli, who had been deputy mayor for the past three years, did not nominate for the position which is voted on in October every year.
“The elephant in the room is that our mayor [Doug Curran] will not be staying as mayor at the end of his term and he said he’d like to give the opportunity to train up others if they would consider being mayor,” Cr Ellis told the meeting.
But the role went to Cr Groat, who has often gone against the grain since being first elected to council last year.
Most notably, he criticised the local government body for being too willing to block development applications and take businesses to court for expensive litigation.
“I’m not a fan of lawyers,” Cr Groat said.
“There’s nothing productive about employing lawyers. If you can do mediation without lawyers, it’s for the best.
“There’s a lot of litigation cases going on regarding people trying to do driveways. They can’t get their development applications through. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
The lifelong farmer said he was confident the council was moving in the right direction.
“There’s been a big change since the new general manager Scott Grant started,” he said.
“He wants transparency and honesty in local government and emphasised the need to reply to emails from residents as quickly as possible.”
Cr Groat recently landed in trouble for seeking a cheaper price for ratepayers on asbestos removal work on a fire damaged dwelling, with other councillors saying that was a job that should be left to council staff.
“I’ll always try to stick up for ratepayers,” he said.
He has also been vocal in his support for Griffith hospital to split from the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD), even though the official position of the council is to wait until the community expresses its view through a survey.
“You can’t argue with people like Dr Jaya [Narayanan Jayachandran]. He knows exactly what’s going on,” he said.
Cr Groat said his eye wasn’t on the top job, despite Cr Ellis revealing Mayor Doug Curran wouldn’t seek another term.
“At this stage, I’m not planning that far ahead. I’m sticking my neck out just to be deputy mayor. I’m not a very good public speaker; I need to polish those skills,” he said.
Nor does he aspire to take over from his cousin Helen Dalton (nee Groat) as the MP in state parliament.
“No, she’s sacrificed a lot to do what she’s doing. I’ve got 10 grandchildren and being an MP takes away from family a lot; I want to have time with them.”
