 Last weeks speaker was Rotary’s own Carmen Houlahan. She has a BA in theatre and a masters in entrepreneurial business. Her professional career is both interesting and varied, ranging from being a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, playwright and marketing and communications contractor, and now DCC councillor. As Carmen said “life will never be dull”. For example, she started our meeting by winning the raffle but, sadly, failing to extract the joker. Having missed out on her first attempt to be elected to Council, she decided to have another go. Her effective strategy was to run for Mayor at the same time as standing for Council, thereby hugely increasing her opportunities to speak and increase her name recognition. Having been elected, she enjoyed the induction for new Councillors and getting up to speed on what was happening and what the City needed to do. As a Councillor she strives to be true to her own values and those upon which she campaigned. Carmen would like to be seen as a Councillor who is open, honest and fair. She has found that being a Councillor her life is under scrutiny. She said that some comments on social media are not always nice. Carmen has learnt that you have to be very careful about what you say both on the record and off the cuff. She described lively moments around discussions about possible pedestrian changes in the Octagon and George Street. Carmen is currently reading the huge paper work supporting the development of Dunedin’s long-term plan. The Council is setting priorities and managing the ten-year budget to facilitate the implementation of the plan. Some high profile, desirable projects might have to be put on hold because of Covid. Carmen says that being a councillor is a dream job. She says that Dunedin faces lots of issues and she believes the Council needs to bring the people on the journey with it. |
Special thanks go to club members Peter Jackson and Neil Lyons, with help from President Gordon Tucker, who braved a chilly Dunedin morning to get the site preparation underway for the new bolt on bike repair station on the West Harbour Bike Trail.
