A corporate businessman, a teacher, a salesman, a postie and a councillor for Wingecarribee Shire Council; Gordon Markwart has been there.
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Now Gordon is hanging up his councillor badge to focus on his future.
His resignation was announced by Mayor Duncan Gair on August 4.
Gordon said his first term as a councillor was a "hugely rewarding experience."
"It was a real insight on how local government works and the challenges they face," he said.
"It was a real eye-opener in many ways.
"I had no preconceived ideas of how council ran, I didn't think they were good, bad or anything."
Gordon ran as the Greens candidate in the 2016 local government election.
"As we approached the 2016 election, the Greens were looking for candidates and the previous Greens councillor and I were bushwalking from Mittagong to Katoomba," he said.
"After that, I decided to run for councillor after bushwalking for three days with Jim Clark, my predecessor."
Gordon said that one of his highlights as a councillor was understanding how the system works and helping the community.
"A major personal highlight was understanding the system and how things worked and understanding the challenges, the pressures and forces as play," he said.
"This understanding is necessary to deliver for the community."
"In terms of adding something to council in the way of the community, there are a few things that come to mind.
"The first notice of motion was relatively small but it was increasing the water rebate for people on home dialysis".
"It was something I did in the first few months which I was really pleased about."
Other highlights include the push to have a consultation with Aboriginal groups over the Aboriginal Cultural Centre lease arrangements and increasing council's attention on climate change.
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"There had been no adequate consultation with members of the wider local Aboriginal community," he said.
"Another one that tickles my fancy was the declaration of the climate change emergency. When I came back from sick leave, I had a chat with a few councillors and the vote changed from being defeated twice, to eight - one in favour of declaring a Climate Change emergency.
"There were other factors involved such as the bushfires and Extinction Rebellion march of course but my input I made a difference.
"I must stress that none of these things could be done without majority councillor support.
"These outcomes weren't mine alone, support by other councillors is essential."
Another highlight for Gordon was working with staff to understand the lack of diversity in council.
"As you may recall there was a survey put out some months ago which was the outcome of a couple of chats I held with council staff," he said.
"I was greatly concerned that the current councillors are all 60-something-year-old men, such as myself.
"We do not reflect the community we represent, it's no fault of the councillors per se, it's just that we don't have the appropriate applicants or candidates.
"I had discussions with people in council over some months and as a result, they agreed to spend some time, effort and resources to try and understand why this is so. I hope this will lead to greater diversity in future councils.
"These sorts of things can be progressed if you have a good relationship with council staff, you don't need to put in a notice of motion for such operational matters."
Outside of council, Gordon has lived a full life.
"The job I had before council was as a local postie for about three years," he said.
"I was basically walking around Bowral or Moss Vale depending on which route I was on, for about 15 kilometres carrying around 15 kilos of mail.
"I got to meet a lot of very friendly people.
Before his job as the local postie, Gordon worked at a local solar power, heating and air conditioning company, taught English in Poland for three years and worked in a corporate job for more than 20 years.
"I got sick of the corporate job so I sold everything and went to Poland to teach English as a second language," he said.
"I don't speak Polish though. But I did learn the word Pivo - beer."
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Now that Gordon has resigned as councillor, he said his focus will be on maintaining his health.
Gordon was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease after about a year as councillor.
"The medical advice I received was that it shouldn't be a problem for the remainder of the three to four years on council," he said.
"Unfortunately, I had some side effects from the medication and that caused difficulties.
"I decided after some thought, it wasn't an easy decision either, that I would rather be no councillor than half a councillor.
"I don't have the energy required to be an effective councillor. You always need to be on the go."
As for what Gordon will miss from his time as councillor, it will be working with council staff.
"I really enjoyed working with the council staff," he said
"I found the council staff, open, happy to discuss and explore options."
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