Disclaimer: Contributor expressions of opinion are independent to the views and expressions of The Newsport.

Author's Disclosure: During the lead up to, and conduct of, the referendum to Deamalgamate Douglas Shire from the Cairns Regional Council after some 6 years of forced amalgamation, the author was a supporter, and a public speaker and writer in support' of the status quo - that is, the People of Douglas. The author was also a vocal supporter of an alternative to (the duly elected) Mayor Julia Leu.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article and attributed to Cr David Carey are expressly presented as his personal views and NOT views necessarily supported by other Councillors or Council at large.

In the latter half of 2012, in response to continued lobbying by residents of the (old) Douglas Shire, and an interested group called 'Friends of Douglas', which, as a collective had been displeased with aspects of the forced amalgamation with Cairns City Council (to become the freshly-named Cairns Regional Council (CRC)), the Queensland Govt allowed residents and locally-resident rate payers (which locked out owners of property who lived outside the old Shire) to take part in a referendum to determine the future of Douglas, and particularly to determine whether Douglas (Shire Council - DSC) ought to deamalgamate from CRC.

The vote took part in early March 2013 and resulted in a 'win' for the supporters of deamalgamation, by a result of some 57% to 43%. It's fair to say that, at various points in the election campaigns of both sides of the debate, tempers were raised and friendships severely strained. There were harmonious as well as vitriolic discussions, as there tend to be in matters of such social conscience and personal desires to have "our Shire back" as opposed to those who were happy with their relationship with CRC. Indeed, an opposing group, the "People of Douglas", was formed with the status quo as its catchcry. (See above Disclosure)

In the event, Councillors Carey, Clarke, Nolle and Melchert were elected; Julia Leu was elected Mayor and the (new) DSC started its life on 1.1.14 after a transition overseen by an independent arbitrator. So, what of the first 100 or so days of DSC?

In line with my studied and personal position on the question of deamalgamation from CRC, I admit to having certain forebodings about Council management; about the financial position of the DSC after 1.1.14; and about - against a background of alleged and apparent dysfunction during the last DSC - whether the same might occur. I didn't expect the sky would fall in, but certainly didn't expect smooth sailing.

Given that Cr David Carey was someone I considered an acquaintance (if not a 'mate') before the referendum and given that David was a spokesperson for Friends of Douglas for a number of years including the run-up to the vote, I decided to seek a meeting with him to see how he regarded the first few months of Council. We met for coffee.

David is a 58 year old who has been engaged with various Councils almost all his working life; his particular forte would appear to be financial management, and he was, by his own admission, the most optimistic of the Friends of Douglas leading up to the vote, as to the future financial position of a new DSC. (This appears to have been borne out by figures released only a few days before our chat that DSC had, in effect, $19m 'in the bank' after all assessments had been made. Against the $25m transferred from the old DSC to CRC this appears to bear out the fact that CRC was spending more on the Douglas area than it took in income.) Carey wonders whether that $1m per year was spent in the Douglas Shire area or expended on bureaucrats and the like in Cairns. We'll probably never know.

Whilst Carey thought "there was no way deamalgamation wasn't going to work", even he was inspired at the 'better start than expected' commencement to DSC. He specified more onerous depreciation standards, independent audits on finances and the state of infrastructure in the Shire as areas needing special attention, time and money.

To that effect, Carey is satisfied DSC has "started off with a good dollar balance, but that on a operational basis things will be quite tight due to provision for depreciation". There will be, accordingly, a "higher (financial) provision for infrastructure and depreciation".

He was - a few days before our meeting - recorded as having expressed disappointment about Council's action on our water supplies, a subject about which he was particularly vocal during the campaign and which he stated was one of the planks of his election platform. Whilst he admits dissatisfaction with the lack of progress, he concedes that the new Council has been "flat out with operations, planning, budgeting, corporate plan for the next two years, IT updates, etc, that water quality could wait a little while; in any event, the complete transfer from CRC had not been fully effected until March 2014".

In short, Cr David Carey is "extremely positive" about the future of Douglas shire Council. So, what about the thoughts of the author, who was adamantly against deamalgamation? Who posted those corflute signs around the town to the annoyance of 'those opposite'?

Well, I admit something of a satisfaction with the ways things have panned out so far. From a home owner's viewpoint, whilst I don't like getting rates notices and water rates and the like, there's (so far) been nothing like the hikes we expected/expounded; there's been nothing of note to report in relation to dysfunction - indeed a minor dispute about some stairs on Government land appears to have been referred to Govt for consultation, in a way that seems entirely appropriate; Councillors appear to have been functioning well together with an appropriate level of discord that is indicative of a properly functioning democracy. And the grass in Hutchings Park appears to mowed on a more frequent basis, making it more user/family friendly.

As importantly, in the aftermath of TC Ita, our council (manual) workers were out in force on Port Douglas Road and Davidson Streets initially, cleaning up and removing debris. Further, Council arranged the trimming of the palm trees on those two streets - surely the initial highlight of ANY visitor's entry to Port Douglas - in time for Carnivale. Thousands of locals and holiday makers too the time and spent the money during Carnivale's week or more activities, and the clean-up over the river in the aftermath of TC Ita cannot go unmentioned.

Now, if we could only get rid of those damned traffic lights in Mossman!