THERE has been a lot of water go under the bridge for Ballarat's Stephen Jones since last time he was a member of the City of Ballarat Council.
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The former mayor lost his seat in 2008 at the time of deep worries over a court case which saw him lose his business.
There were also concerns over conflict of interest allegations levelled at then-council colleagues David Vendy and Gary Anderson which were raised in a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report that cleared Cr Jones.
But seeing what has happened to the City of Ballarat in the past 12 months, Mr Jones is determined to return to the fray with a goal of righting the ship he sees sinking.
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"It's time for some common sense which is a bit lacking sometimes," Mr Jones said. "Right now, the motivation doesn't seem to be for the Ballarat area as a whole. These people have had a fair go, and I'll put up another alternative.
"People know what I stand for in the previous seven years I had on council. I put forward their wishes, not mine. I'd do exactly the same again."
Mr Jones is a big supporter of interim chief executive officer Janet Dore, describing her as "exactly the type of person we need for this city going forward".
"Janet's very switched on and someone with her capabilities would be ideal going forward, perhaps she can be persuaded to continue, who knows?" he said.
Mr Jones said a Ballarat councillor had a special position to uphold, not just for the city but for the whole region.
"As a councillor for Ballarat, you represent the whole region - Moorabool, Pyrenees, Central Goldfields - they look to Ballarat for direction," he said.
In terms of his platform, he said he would like to see strong action in the CBD to bring not just business, but people back to the area. He also said tourism needed to be a focus going forward.
"I'm on the committee for the Eureka Stockade Memorial Park, so I have some understanding of the tourism dollar value in Ballarat," he said. "I was reading last night Ballarat had 2.5 million visitors last year. It's going to be crucial to work to get that back to where it was, and try to increase it.
"When I was on council, there was something like 600 bed nights a night. It's a huge population over and above our own ratepayers."
Another pet project will be to see more funding for sporting facilities for the over 50s such as lawn bowlers. "Council has a strategic plan for lawn bowls, I'd like to move that along," he said. "The strategy had most of the things to be achieved by 2020, to my knowledge, only a few implemented at this point.
"Bowling clubs will struggle because of COVID-19. There are six clubs in the central ward alone, so it affects a lot of people. I'm sure they'd quite welcome any assistance to upgrade facilities.
"Council has focused on young people, but not many over 50s play soccer or footy. The older generation needs some support."
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