When the Tribune caught up with her on Wednesday, Ms Norton was in a reflective mood. Due to start in her new national role with a children’s charity on Thursday (yesterday), she shared her thoughts on her time with council and the new direction her life has taken. 

“Satisfying” and “challenging” were the two words that best describe her attitude to her role with council. 

Ms Norton brought a wealth of experience from a career spanning state government, private enterprise and the not-for profit sector to Yass Valley Council when she signed on seven years ago.

“Local government is different from state government. In local government, the local council and councillors are very close to the community they serve. That has both positive and negative aspects. 

“It makes you a target, but gives you a great sense of satisfaction when you can achieve something because it’s part of the community you live it. I’ll miss that. I’ll miss working in the community. I’ll miss the staff. They are very hard-working and dedicated on the whole.”

When asked what she considered her greatest achievements, Ms Norton’s thoughts immediately flew to the Fit for the Future submission.

“But it’s more than that. It was a journey over five years or so, to get a community strategic plan, a vision for Yass Valley we’d never had before.”

There were also challenges along the way.

“The ICAC enquiry was all consuming for about six months. It forced us to look internally and see how we can improve our processes. Part of my role was to manage that process. We’ve done a lot of work on governance systems in our organisation. We’ve come along way over last seven years.”

Ms Norton explained that part of her role was to manage the impact of councillor and ratepayer behaviour on the staff.

“It can take up an enormous amount of time.”

Another challenge was Acting as General Manager when David Rowe was overseas during the last election which she described as enjoyable and interesting.

Part of the Fit for the Future submission to state government required council to look at the organisational structure of council. 

“Over the latter part of last year, David Rowe gave considerable thought to the structure of council. He decided, and I agreed, that we needed to elevate the importance of finance in our organisational structure. 

“To do that would inevitably affect my role. The new structure would abolish the role of Director of Corporate and Community Services and create a position of Director of Finance and Corporate Services, which would have a far greater focus on finance. 

“I had a choice to make: apply for new role or move on. I chose to move on because I prefer a broader role and after seven years I felt the timing was right to go and look for other opportunities. 

“It’s a good thing for council to have new blood and ideas come in. Also part of my decision was that I no longer wanted to deal with the divisive and manipulative behaviour of a small number of councillors and the contempt they showed to council management and in particular to David Rowe.

“Some of the recent decision making of council has left me wondering whether some councillors really have the community’s long term interests at heart or whether they are more interested in being popular and getting re-elected.

“Let me be clear that the majority of councillors are dedicated and hard working and have the community’s best interests at heart. The mayor in particular does a really good job. Rowena has worked very hard and has raised our profile at regional and state level.

“There has been pressure on some staff that didn’t need to be there. Let me say that David Rowe is a thoroughly decent and honest man and he does not deserve what has been thrown at him by a small group of councillors and a very small group of ratepayers who feel disenfranchised.

“At the end of the day I guess it’s just worn me down. I’ve run out of steam. It was time for me to look for new challenges.

“But I’ll still live here. I’m still a passionate ratepayer. I’ll still watch with interest what happens at council and may feel the need to comment publicly from time to time.”

When asked if she would ever consider standing for council, a mysterious twinkle appears in her eye.

“Anything’s possible.”

For now, Ms Norton is looking forward to her new role at Sids and Kids, where she has been involved as both an ACT and national board member. Her new title will be General Manager of Corporate Services. Although the organisation is based in Melbourne, the Binalong-based career woman will be based in Canberra.  

“The organisation is going through a time of change and amalgamation. It’s growing and there are lots of challenges. 

“It will be nice to work in an environment where there are no political or personal agendas. It’s about making a difference.

“Nothing is more important than saving and protecting the lives of children. If I can contribute in some small way through this role then I’ll be very happy.”