December 6, 2024
Toowoomba Regional Council has adopted a “zone” model to help improve the way councillors engage with the community.
The new system, which will begin in January, divides the 13,000sg km of the region into three zones: North (which includes Yarraman and Cooyar), South and Emerging.
Three councillors have been allocated to each region, and will rotate into a new region after 12 months.
In 2025, the three councillors for the North Zone will be Cr Kerry Shine, Cr James O’Shea and Cr Carol Taylor (see the table below):
| North Zone – 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Cr Kerry Shine | Cr Edwina Farquhar | Cr Bill Cahill |
| Cr James O’Shea | Cr Tim McMahon | Cr Melissa Taylor |
| Cr Carol Taylor | Cr Gary Gardiner | Cr Trevor Manteufel |
| South Zone – 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Cr Gary Gardiner | Cr Bill Cahill | Cr James O’Shea |
| Cr Trevor Manteufel | Cr Melissa Taylor | Cr Tim McMahon |
| Cr Edwina Farquhar | Cr Carol Taylor | Cr Kerry Shine |
| Emerging Zone – 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Cr Melissa Taylor | Cr Kerry Shine | Cr Edwina Farquhar |
| Cr Bill Cahill | Cr James O’Shea | Cr Gary Gardiner |
| Cr Tim McMahon | Cr Trevor Manteufel | Cr Carol Taylor |
Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald said the new zone model was aimed at giving the community a greater sense of connection with councillors.
“At the start of this term, Councillors agreed to be open to change – change to do better. One of the significant areas that elected representatives have heard loud and clear from the community is that they want to see more of us,” Mayor McDonalf said.
“For councillors to get a better feel for what is happening right across our region we required a change in our engagement approach. To put this into perspective; the same area that 11 Councillors now represent, had 68 Councillors prior to 2008.
“Council’s desire for continual service improvement includes communication. We have invested into the link between community and Council through initiatives such as our 131-872 call centre, the ‘Your Say’ portal on the website and maintaining customer service centres in regional townships.
“This new Councillor engagement model will not replace or replicate the other methods of communication.
“Councillors obtain great community intelligence from simply visiting schools, community events, service clubs, business associations and other small or large gatherings.
“Importantly, Councillor portfolio responsibilities cover the whole region and this doesn’t change.
“Although there will be a greater focus on their advertised zone, Councillors are also encouraged to attend events and activities across the entire Council footprint.
“Deputy Mayor Cr Rebecca Vonhoff and myself will be available across all areas to support Councillors in each zone.”
NB. Toowoomba Council is an “undivided” local government area, which means there are no Divisions (unlike the South Burnett where ratepayers elect their own Division councillor).
