Who is Mark Horan ?

-My wife Sonia and I are raising our four children on the property "Jinglemoney", in the middle of Palerang, 17 Km from the town of Braidwood. The next big job on the farm is to plant 2000 native trees along the Shoalhaven River to stabilise the bank, help manage the weeds and provide a wildlife corridor shelter.

-My working life ranges from a horse breaker, carpenter, business manager, Regional Manager for BHP, founding Board Member of the Braidwood and Bungendore Community Banks and a Councillor on the first Palerang Council.

-Originally from an old Canberra family, I have lived in the shire area for 20 years and worked exclusively in the Braidwood district for the past 11.

-My income mainly,comes from breeding cattle, but because the continued dry spell has placed some financial pressures on the regularity of the market, it is not uncommon to see me doing the odd bit of Carpentry or transporting stock for farmers in the district. Working in this rural enviroment gives me an understanding of the local economy and first hand experience of what often appears to be mindless city rules applied to the county!

-I was always alert to the effects that something like the global financial crisis could have on a small rural shire like Palerang and knew that without a good financial position and sound decisions, our council could never hope to provide our communities with satisfactory works, environmental or social programmes.

-The decisions taken during my term on the Palerang Council proved to be correct, given the Council's (now) sound position,when compared with its starting point (in deficit) and its performance against simmilar shires in NSW.