{"id":355802,"date":"2024-12-06T16:50:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T06:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=355802"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:30:46","slug":"trc-councillors-assigned-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/12\/06\/trc-councillors-assigned-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"TRC Councillors Assigned ‘Zones’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald with members of the Yarraman Bowls Club at the Rosalie Fours bowls event last weekend … the TRC believes that councillor attendance at events like this will be a key component of the strengthened regional engagement model from 2025 (Photo: TRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 6, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toowoomba Regional Council has adopted a “zone” model to help improve the way councillors engage with the community.<\/p>\n

The new system, which will begin in January, divides the 13,000sq km of the region into three zones: North (which includes Yarraman and Cooyar), South and Emerging.<\/p>\n

Three councillors have been allocated to each region, and will rotate into a new region after 12 months.<\/p>\n

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):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
North Zone – 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2026<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2027<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Kerry Shine<\/td>\nCr Edwina Farquhar<\/td>\nCr Bill Cahill<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr James O\u2019Shea<\/td>\nCr Tim McMahon<\/td>\nCr Melissa Taylor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Carol Taylor<\/td>\nCr Gary Gardiner<\/td>\nCr Trevor Manteufel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Zone – 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2026<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2027<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Gary Gardiner<\/td>\nCr Bill Cahill<\/td>\nCr James O\u2019Shea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Trevor Manteufel<\/td>\nCr Melissa Taylor<\/td>\nCr Tim McMahon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Edwina Farquhar<\/td>\nCr Carol Taylor<\/td>\nCr Kerry Shine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Emerging Zone \u2013 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2026<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n2027<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Melissa Taylor<\/td>\nCr Kerry Shine<\/td>\nCr Edwina Farquhar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Bill Cahill<\/td>\nCr James O\u2019Shea<\/td>\nCr Gary Gardiner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cr Tim McMahon<\/td>\nCr Trevor Manteufel<\/td>\nCr Carol Taylor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald said the new zone model was aimed at giving the community a greater sense of connection with councillors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new Councillor engagement model will not replace or replicate the other methods of communication.<\/p>\n

“Councillors obtain great community intelligence from simply visiting schools, community events, service clubs, business associations and other small or large gatherings.<\/p>\n

\u201cImportantly, Councillor portfolio responsibilities cover the whole region and this doesn’t change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there will be a greater focus on their advertised zone, Councillors are also encouraged to attend events and activities across the entire Council footprint.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeputy Mayor Cr Rebecca Vonhoff and myself will be available across all areas to support Councillors in each zone.”<\/p>\n

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).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Toowoomba Regional Council area has been divided into three zone: North, South and Emerging (Map: TRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toowoomba Regional Council has adopted a “zone” model to help improve the way councillors engage with the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":355818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,3],"tags":[1131],"yoast_head":"\nTRC Councillors Assigned 'Zones' - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Toowoomba Regional Council has adopted a "zone" model to help improve the way councillors engage with the community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/12\/06\/trc-councillors-assigned-zones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TRC Councillors Assigned 'Zones' - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Toowoomba Regional Council has adopted a "zone" model to help improve the way councillors engage with the community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/12\/06\/trc-councillors-assigned-zones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-06T06:50:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-19T01:30:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241206bowls.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/12\/06\/trc-councillors-assigned-zones\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/12\/06\/trc-councillors-assigned-zones\/\",\"name\":\"TRC Councillors Assigned 'Zones' - 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