Candidate for upcoming Douglas Shire Council elections Richard Lavender says he’s focused on ‘one-on-one’ meetings with the public and digital signage during his campaign.

Mr Lavender states he’s more focused on taking the campaign to the people rather than truck displays and corflute signage. He said he feels the best way to gain perspective on community wants and needs is to be direct, open and available.

“I’m an experienced executive, fully committed and responsive to all residents and the only advertising signage I’ll be using during the campaign is social media, radio, press releases and digital advertising as represented above,” he said.

“Under Council local laws, corflute signs can be used by other candidates, but it's not for me. 

“During the next few weeks leading up to the election, I’ll be visiting with locals throughout the shire, attending debates and talking directly with the community.”

Mr Lavender has also installed and shared Disqus, an on-line communications tool to engage people instantly, where everyone is entitled to an opinion related to a specific subject on his candidacy website.

Mr Lavender said the program installation on a site means anyone can participate in a meeting in a personal way with shared interests and context.

“Council and the community can engage one another without having to leave their office or the comfort of their home,” he said.

“Disqus is already successfully installed on the web. It’s the most widely utilized commenting platform on the Internet.  I’ve spent many an hour sitting in a meeting that seems to go on forever. Plus, to me, the best part is that all comments are documented and decisions can be made with group approval.

“Disqus is a free service that enables great online discussions and is used by millions of people worldwide and can cover pretty much any topic imaginable.  It even reduces our carbon footprint by the reduction of petrol consumed coming and going from meetings.

“Council can engage the community without having to hold ‘in-person’ community meetings.  This is not to say that in-person meetings don’t have value but with a tool of engagement many meetings on several subjects can be held simultaneously and more can be accomplished with less cost and time commitments.

“If the Shire is to grow into the future we need to embrace new technology that will enhance our level of communications without added costs."

Mr Lavender invites comments by visiting www.richardlavender.com 

For more information on Disqus see disqus.com