Billy Latkas says he wants to be the new face on Brimbank Council come October. 79925 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By LAURA WAKELY
BILLY Latkas is the latest resident to throw their hat in the ring for the 2012 Brimbank City Council elections.
The Cairnlea resident will run as an independent candidate in the October elections, which take place for the first time since the sacking of councillors from Brimbank in 2009.
Speaking to Star last week, Mr Latkas said he had chosen to run because he loves his community and is concerned about dismissed councillors returning.
Star revealed earlier this year that sacked councillors Troy Atanasovski and Sam David would run again for council, while Margaret Guidice and Marion Martin were also considering running.
Former Keilor MP George Seitz, who Ombudsman George Brouwer also named in his scathing report of corruption in the former council, is also running.
“Three years ago they (councillors) were dismissed, embarrassingly dismissed,” Mr Latkas said.
“I don’t know them on a personal level … but professionally, from what they’ve done I’m not very impressed. Those who know what happened, like me, don’t want them back.”
Mr Latkas conceded he had not been involved in residents groups or campaigns over the past three years of administration but said that could be an advantage as he claimed no bias over any group or individual.
“Just because up until this point I haven’t done that doesn’t mean I’ll make a bad councillor. It’ll be a fresh attitude and it may actually work better,” he said.
“I’m in touch with my community and I know that we need help here (in Brimbank).”
He said his main concerns were for health, small business, safety and planning issues.
He pointed to Yarraville’s metamorphosis from working class suburb to hipster hub as an example of what Brimbank suburbs like Sunshine could become.
“(In Yarraville) I used to see people shooting up heroin, I used to see lines of cocaine being done on the street bench, I used to see people fight, ambulances pull up in near-death situations,” Mr Latkas said.
“The council came in and cleaned it up. They started making changes, they lobbied the State Government.”
Mr Latkas said he would doorknock, letterbox and prepare a campaign team over the next six months in the lead-up to the council elections on October 27.
