Council Connect: 18 October 2024

Published on 18 October 2024

I'm Digby Rayward, the current Mayor of Dungog Shire. I am pleased to present this week's Council message. It's a little bit different format than what you've seen, and we'll talk more about that at the end.

So, the dust is starting to settle after the elections. We had our first Council Meeting on Wednesday night, mainly on procedural matters. We also elected Councillor Alexandria Carruthers the Deputy Mayor for the next 12 months.

I'm sure we've got a great team to help shape this Shire's future, and we will certainly work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome we can.

You will see some media changes, and that's what I hinted at earlier. You certainly won't be seeing my big dial every week. I'll be encouraging other Councillors to step up to the plate and share in presenting the Council's weekly message because we all own it. The same will happen on Friday with the Dungog radio slot. I encourage those watching this to tune into the Dungog radio. It's run by a great band of volunteers and I wish them all the best, but I'll be there this Friday.

I would certainly welcome feedback on whether we should continue with the video message or just have a document for you to read. If you're sick and tired of having a face talk at you and just prefer to read it, well, that's what we'll do.

As you know, the roads and infrastructure work continues at a great pace, and details can be found on our Facebook page, so there's no point in me repeating it. You'll find it in written literature.

As you may know, one of our mandates was to increase our community engagement, and we certainly are moving forward on that slowly. But we have our first meeting with Dungog Regional Tourism, and then we'll reach out to the other community groups and see how the Council can help them join us in making Dungog a great place to live.

Well, that's my little spurt for the end of the week, so have a great weekend, and someone will catch you later. Thanks very much.