Tim Dally has worked as a teacher's aid for teenagers with autism, been the head gardener at the Japanese embassy in Canberra, and currently teaches horticulture and landscape construction at TAFE, as well as running a small landscaping business.
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But now he has one more job he'd like to add to his CV: Goulburn Mulwaree councillor.
And it's all because he is passionate about the place where he was born and bred, and made a life for his family.
"I've been in the Goulburn area my entire life, and live here now with my wife Carlie and three kids," said Mr Dally.
"I feel like it's about time to give back.
"I love our LGA - I grew up near Marulan, and we're out there on property again.
"I love the whole area, and I think I'm in that position on my life that I can give back something."
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The 'something' he believes he can give back is a voice on council that, while welcoming growth, will keep one eye on the kind of place they will be handing the next generation.
"COVID has changed how people live and work," said Mr Dally, refering to the increased movement of city people to the country due to better ability to work from home.
"One of the things is that we don't want to become is another suburb of Sydney.
"It's great to have growth, but we don't want to lose the country charm, the lifestyle people love."
He said he isn't anti-development, but believes it needs to be carefully planned.
"I'm not saying I don't want people moving to Goulburn but it needs to be monitored a bit more - we don't want to be beholden to developers, and it needs to be transparent," he said.
"Also, we don't need townhouses and semi-detached dwellings - we live in rural area, we don't need to stack houses on top of each other.
"Development and growth are fantastic but it needs to be in keeping with what the Goulburn Mulwaree LGA's values are - so we need to re-evalate and ask the community about that."
On what he considers to be the two big issues of the moment - the expansion of Wakefield Park and the proposal from Veolia for a waste to energy facility in Tarago - he said he reserves judgement on the former and is against the latter.
"With Wakefield Park, I feel like I need more infomration, to sit down and work through it all, before I make a balanced decision," he said.
"I've been following what's going on, but there's always more information the public isn't privy to.
"Regarding Tarago, I'm against it.
"It's leading into the Goulburn Mulwaree LGA becoming an industrial dumping ground for Sydney - we seem to be the only place they're looking to in that regard, and it's definitely an issue we need to look at."
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He acknowledged that the decision on whether the Veolia facility goes ahead is largely out of council's hands, since - as a state significant development - it will be decided by the NSW Government.
"But council can lobby and do as much as they can from where they are," he said.
"We definitely need to pre-empt future potential issues with this sort of thing, and look at the bigger picture and not just short term."
He praised Goulburn Mulwaree Council for the infrastructure projects recently completed or currently underway, saying they had done a "fantasic job with new infrastructure", singling out the Performing Arts Centre, the Aquatic and Leisure Centre and the Wollondilly River Walkway.
"The walkway alone is going to start bringing tourism to Goulburn, as well as being good for locals," he said.
"It's a really nice, community-minded project they've done."
A councillor role would be a kind of full circle for Mr Dally, who started out as an apprentice with the council in landscape construction. With this background, he questions why - from his observation - it appears that council subcontracts more of their work out now.
"We have a lot of expertise, a lot of people who are very good at their jobs, so I'm wondering why there's been a seeming reduction in staff,"
" I'd like to have a look at that.
"If we have these people, they need to be utilised to their full potential."
Mr Dally has recently been looking into his family history, and discovered that great-great-great-great grandfather, James Clifford, was an alderman in the 1870s in Goulburn for 10 years, which included time as both treasurer and mayor.
That, for him, has been a kind of confirmation.
"It feels that it's right for me to run," he said.
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