THERE is a fresh face at the Okehampton Town Council offices this week with the arrival of the new town clerk.
Don Bent, 53, who has been involved in local government since leaving school, started on Monday and succeeds previous clerk John Winchester.
?I?m ready for this. I have lots of energy and lots of enthusiasm. I?m looking forward to the challenges,? said Mr Bent, who added he was impressed with the Okehampton Town Council performance plan.
?I?d like to deliver it with them. There are less politics at this level. It is more to do with the town and the population. We still talk about politics but it?s more to do with the vibrancy of the town. Here you are more in touch with people than at other council levels.?
Mr Bent has a wealth of local government experience. He was town clerk at Tavistock for 15 years. He left in 1998 following an audit inquiry which led to a conviction.
Mr Bent then went to work for Plymouth City Council and latterly with builders? merchants Kaminski?s at Tavistock.
?But local government is what I like best. I was in the 1974 reorganisation. I have worked for a lot of members and with a lot of mayors.?
Mr Bent, who lives at Buckland Monachorum, feels he has arrived at Okehampton at an exciting time in the town?s history.
?I want to be a part of that. The town wants to revisit and re-energise some of its operations while having some beneficial spin-off. They have this performance plan which needs to be structured and energised and delivered to the community. Everything else will spin off from that,? he said.
?I think Okehampton is proving to itself that it is going somewhere. That is evident through new housing, and investment and tourism. I like the idea of developing the railway, maybe as commuter transport between here and Exeter.?
Mr Bent has two grown up sons. His hobbies are cooking, sailing, playing cricket and walking on Dartmoor.
Town mayor Christine Marsh said she was ?thrilled to bits? that Mr Bent had joined the council.
She said he had enough experience to catch up on the couple of years that he was out of local government.
?I think he will be very good for the town. He is someone who can help pull the various groups together and work with them and take us forward into 2003 with a positive step.?