It feels like this term of councillors, first elected in 2016, have been with us forever.

In three months time we'll be asked to make a decision on the 12 people that will be our representatives, and another decision on who's going to be mayor.

There is a genuine chance for generational change during this election and it's time to start thinking about our city's future.

It's a hard job and there will be decisions that need careful thought.

Anytime people talk about what council - any council - has been up to, you can bet dollars to doughnuts people will highlight a handful of things that could be have been done better, should have been done long ago or people are just plain unhappy with.

People have every right to voice their opinion, it's one of the pleasures of living in Australia as opposed to elsewhere.

But in our democracy we also have the chance to put our money where our mouth is and stand for election.

There is a stunning vacuum of sensible leadership in this community.

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But to fix it requires people to sacrifice their time and energy into working to make the community better, and we should all want to see our community improve.

Part of this stems from the policies and decisions made by Griffith City Council, however, this isn't solely the responsibility of the people who have been elected.

Part of the problem also lies in the choices that voters have to make.

We complain about the "same old people" being elected to council but if the "same old people" are the only ones ever standing for election, what choice do residents and ratepayers have?

A new generation of councillors is needed. Three months isn't a lot of time to make a decision about whether people want to put their name in the hat.

But fortunately there is still time and last year's COVID induced delay may even have gotten people thinking already.

A good democracy needs competition to thrive.

The single votes we have are powerful and our decisions will help shape the future of this city.

If no one steps up to take the responsibility of helping to set the city's future direction or to take responsibility for the decisions made, then the city will slowly become stagnant and leave us all in our worse position.