A NUMBER of high profile candidates have already been announced for this September’s Shoalhaven Local Government elections.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But not every candidate is high profile.
St Georges Basin resident Desmond Staggs is one such candidate, announcing he will be standing in ward three.
The 66-year-old has lived at the Basin for 10 years and decided to stand after being asked by some a number of local residents.
“I suppose I’m known as a guy who gets in and gets things done,” he said.
“This is God’s country but there are things that need to be done.
“People heard what I had previously achieved and asked me to run, so I’m running.
“If people ask from my help, I just do it.”
He said he won’t be standing as part of a group.
“I will be standing on my own and not part of a group,” he said.
“I will be my own man.
“I’m a bloke who does what I say.
“If you want something done you have to fight for it.
“If you want to do something do it. I can be like a dog with a bone, I won’t let go.
“I’ll be in there giving them a run for their money.”
A former member of the Labor Party, Mr Staggs also ran for council while living in Wollongong and “only just missed out by a couple of votes”.
He was also one of the instigators in the Wollongong area to get 40km/h zones established around schools, which ended up being one of the first in NSW.
He said local roads were a disgrace and needed to be addressed.
“Something has to be done about our roads,” he said.
“They are a disgrace. I’ve seen council crews come out put a shovel full of tar into pot holes, give it a whack with the shovel and two days later it is the same all over again.”
Another issue he wanted to tackle was the amount of “trips here and there” taken by councillors and staff and the use, or lack of use, of parks and recreation areas in the region.