JUST 10 Maroondah Council candidates out of 38 chose to attend 'meet the candidates' sessions hosted by senior citizens last week.
Seven candidates out of the 25 running for election in the Mullum and Arrabri wards were at the session in Ringwood on Thursday. Only three candidates from 14 for Wyreena Ward appeared at the Croydon event.
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Event organiser Peter Feeney, from the Healthy Ageing Network, said though he was disappointed with the turn-out, he wasn't terribly surprised
"There are a lot of running mates and dummy candidates, which has always been a problem, but it's becoming worse," he said.
Mr Feeney said several council candidates responded to the invitation with apologies, but many did not respond at all.
More than 30 of Maroondah's older citizens attended the question-and-answer sessions at Croydon and Ringwood RSL Clubs. Conversation ranged from the impact of development at Croydon Markets to the large allocation of funds to the Ringwood aquatic centre redevelopment.
A key sentiment at the Ringwood event was that the needs of older citizens were being neglected for the sake of supporting sports clubs.
Most candidates, when asked, indicated they were not in favour of reducing Maroondah Highway down to two lanes opposite Ringwood railway station.
One resident expressed concern about whether the construction of the new Costco supermarket would affect traffic and parking. Another was aggrieved that the concreting of roundabouts had appeared to affect rainwater drainage around her home.
The candidates who did attend the events were:
Arrabri: Tony Dib and Christina Gleeson.
Mullum: Nora Lamont, Joshua Reimer, Jennifer Dawn Newman, Ann Fraser and Bentleigh J. Gibson.
Wyreena: Rob Steane, Les Willmott and Alistair McInnes.