Bellingen Shire's Mayor, Dominic King, has seen his regional collaboration and advocacy efforts rewarded with a seat on the Board of Local Government NSW (LGNSW), something he narrowly missed out on last year.
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The election, held at last week's LG NSW conference, sees him join 13 other councillors on the board of this peak organisation to represent the interests of all 128 NSW councils. He is one seven rural councillors, there are also seven city directors.
Cr King said it was an honour to have been elected to the Board and that he looked forward to working with members of the LGNSW Board to advocate on priority areas of importance to local government and their communities.
"Local Government NSW is our representative body and I feel honoured to have been selected by fellow mayors and councillors to this position," Cr King said.
"Being a director gives me direct contact with all the other mayors, which gives me a wider picture of things, including what is really going on out in Broken Hill and Dubbo, for example.
It will be an interesting journey, and one I am really looking forward to - this is not about party politics, it is about finding solutions.
"We go in to bat with the State Government on a whole range of issues of critical importance such as Joint Organisations, cost shifting and waste, that is a big one - basically the State Government has made little progress on this since China Sword took effect last year.
"Our environment, financial sustainability, resilience, drought, water security, disaster preparedness and the myriad of other issues that face our communities every day are what we will be advocating for.
"It will be an interesting journey, and one I am really looking forward to - this is not about party politics, it is about finding solutions."
Cr King said since he was elected in 2012, he had worked on behalf of the community at a local and regional level to ensure the shared vision for a sustainable future was realised.
"I am excited to now be able to advocate for the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our communities by identifying priority areas where change is needed in state government policy."
Cr King said moving forward it would be business as usual in the lead-up to next year's September 2020 elections.
"I will continue to work at a local, regional and state level on behalf of our community to sustainably manage growth in our Shire, maintain our Shire's natural beauty and uniqueness."
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Ute Schulenberg
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
