It’s been one of the great shames of mayoral contests on the Sunshine Coast that you lose some of your most experienced councillors in the battle.

In past years, high-profile contenders have included deputy mayors, town planning chairs and leading business people – each of whom would make excellent candidates for mayor.

At this election, in two weeks’ time, the Coast will lose one of its two most passionate figures in local government – either Maroochy mayor Joe Natoli or Noosa mayor Bob Abbot.

While critics are quick to target Natoli as a pro-development councillor who is more equated with high-rise than the environment, listening to him at a breakfast meeting on the weekend I realised there are so many more dimensions to the former fruit and vegetable shop owner who took on the likes of Lend Lease in the battle for small business.

Natoli, like Noosa mayor Bob Abbot, has a fire in his belly about helping young people on the Sunshine Coast – as did retired Caloundra mayor Don Aldous.

He spoke at length about how he would love to see programs in place for businessmen and role models from Coast churches to help mentor wayward youth.

I saw firsthand, as we toured Schoolies together last year, that Joe is serious about youth issues on the Coast and is keen to bring local, state and federal governments together with community groups to find solutions to problems like binge drinking and hooning in our streets.

Certainly, during his time as a councillor in Mooloolaba, he put a lot of runs on the board with his support for the safety program led by ranger Pat Quinn.

Bob Abbot is also no stranger to young people in Noosa Shire.

For years, he’s been the driving force behind the establishment of a youth centre in the shire – and has already got the runs on the board with the establishment of the well-run J centre at Noosa Junction.

While critics of Natoli are keen to paint the difference between the two mayoral contenders as black and white, there are, in fact, a lot of similarities.

Noosa has certainly got a better record on the environment front, but Bob Abbot is no radical greenie.

In many ways, his view on development is similar to Natoli’s.

They both believe in working with developers to try to come up with win-win situations for the community.

While Joe Natoli has certainly come under fire for his support of controversial projects like the Juniper carpark deal in Mooloolaba and Lend Lease’s major development plan for the Hyatt Regency Coolum, the Maroochy mayor believes he has always tried to strike a careful balance between progress and protecting the environment.

Critics will no doubt say he has not gone far enough in protecting the integrity of the council’s own town plan – but I’m not sure if that’s a criticism that should be just levelled at only Natoli or rather the majority of the council.

For his part, Bob Abbot has riled probably just as many greenies in his time in Noosa with his refusal to follow the so-called “Noosa mafia” down the exact path they would have him travel.

Vivien Griffin, who quit the council, forcing a by-election, cited “pro-development” voting as the major reason, claiming Noosa was heading towards a path to “mediocrity”.

I’m not sure if she is saying that so loudly during the current election campaign, given that “Big Bob” is well and truly leading the race for the “Big Job”.

If Bob Abbot does win the election on March 15, some Maroochy voters will no doubt be rejoicing that the figurehead of the old regime is gone.

But given that Joe Natoli has rarely had the numbers in his own council for the past four years, it’s probably a little harsh to blame everything on him.

Indeed, looking over the history of Maroochy for the past few years, you have to wonder whether the mayoral position is almost jinxed.

By all accounts, after helping to establish TAFE and the University of the Sunshine Coast here, Alison Grosse looked like the perfect choice for the region’s first female mayor.

But it didn’t take long for that infamous golf course incident to take her – and Maroochy – on a downward slide toward public derision.

Joe Natoli suffered a similar fate in some ways when he broke his back while taking part in a charity bullride to raise money for the search for missing teenager Daniel Morcombe.

Not only has he not recovered 100% in a physical sense but he also struggled to regain any control he may have once had over his council.

At the end of the day, on March 15, the Coast will lose one of its two most passionate figures in local government – and the region will be poorer for it.

> Your guide to Sunshine Coast council candidates