Current situation
- The Council sends out a twice-yearly newsletter (and a yearly waste services calendar) via AusPost to the address of the property owner.
What is the issue
- The newsletter and waste services calendar is only distributed to property owners, not tenants, which means around 18% of local residents do not receive Council information.
My plan
- Print the Council community newsletter in black and white and distribute it twice yearly to all households in the Municipality as well as registered owners (ratepayers) who are outside the Municipality.
- The waste services calendar will included in one of the deliveries to all letterboxes.
- This initiative will be cost neutral as printing in colour is significantly more expensive than printing in black and white.
- Every year, ask residents what they would like to see in the newsletter and tailor the articles to reflect their interests and ideas.
- The Mayor’s message and Councillor list currently occupies a full page, which is about a quarter of the newsletter. Replace these sections with a dot point summary of Council news/project updates and add a link or QR code to the Council website where additional information can be found.
The benefits
- Keeps all residents, including both owners and tenants, better informed about local initiatives and projects.
- Ensures tenants are included in Council communications.
- Printing black and white reduces printing costs.
- Some people find black and white easier to read.