‘Looking forward to continue making Gunnedah a great place to live’

It is with great pleasure that I write this, my first Mayor’s Message for the Gunnedah Times.

I have been a councillor for Gunnedah Shire for 21 years. In that time, I have seen the population grow and the shire become more vibrant with a greater range of businesses, more people in our streets, more children in our schools and more opportunities for our young people.

Gunnedah has grown in so many different ways and you can see this in the major – and smaller – projects that have taken place over the past 10 years. We have a new 50m pool, a beautiful new inclusive playground, a new fenced dog park, improvements to our water management system and infrastructure, an upgraded tarmac, and work is progressing well on the Gunnedah Koala Sanctuary and the Gunnedah Regional Saleyards Redevelopment Project.

We have also seen hard times during those 21 years – drought, floods, economic downturns, and tragedies. Our community has shown that can survive and grow stronger together.

Gunnedah Shire’s nine newly appointed Councillors have now met a number of times to look at our roles and decisions we need to make in the times ahead.

I am confident that, together with deputy mayor Kate McGrath and our whole council team, we can address the issues that council faces in common with other local government areas across the state.

One of the matters we need to look at as a matter of urgency is the possibility of a Special Rate Variation to address the shortfall in revenue council has now been experiencing for some years as a result of cost shifting from state and federal governments and escalating costs. Councils across New South Wales are now expected to do far more with far less.

Following council’s extensive community engagement on the subject ahead of the election, councillors are now being briefed about the options that are available to ensure we have a strong, sustainable council in the years ahead and continue to provide important services.

I look forward to working together with the community to continue to make Gunnedah Shire a wonderful place to live, to bring up your children and to do business.