After 13 years on local council, eight as mayor, Tim Overall has had a hand in almost every type of infrastructure project possible.
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Yet delivering projects for the community is what continues to drive the current administrator of the Queanbeyan-Palerang region.
“Initially in 2004 and again in 2008 the driving force behind me was wanting to make a difference,” Mr Overall said.
“It’s a very rewarding role working with the local communities to deliver. I’m very much delivery driven.
“I think the biggest frustration I’ve experienced and had to come to grips with is the lead time for delivering projects.”
Looking ahead, should he be elected, Mr Overall said the priority for the next council must be to get projects finalised. The time for planning and assessment has passed, he suggested.
Mr Overall identified three broad areas of infrastructure that have taken on particular significance for him.
These were implementing the roads upgrades, the regional cinema complex for Queanbeyan and the Jerrabomberra sports complex.
A passion for delivering infrastructure for the community may have been instilled in Mr Overall from a young age. He moved to Canberra in 1958 for his father, Sir John Overall, to head up the National Capital Development Commission.
It seems appropriate that he is now working to achieve the same goals across the border.
One thing Mr Overall disagreed with was the view that only people from the old Palerang region could understand the needs of those citizens living in a more rural setting.
He said in his time as administrator he had driven almost every road across the entire region and picked up on the different needs and priorities of citizens everywhere.
“It’s not about sectional, disparate interests,” Mr Overall said.
“It’s about working together to deliver for the benefit of the whole of our population.”
Mr Overall is the lead candidate on the independent Group A ticket that includes candidates from across the entire region.
Queanbeyan has given a lot to Mr Overall, it’s where he met his wife Nichole and where they raised their two sons. For 13 years Mr Overall has given a lot of himself to the town.
It’s his desire to keep that relationship going.
