Message from the Mayor: 4 October 2024

Published on 03 October 2024

Good morning, everybody. This is Gareth Curtis, the General Manager of Dungog Council, with this week's video message on behalf of our new Mayor, Councillor Rayward.

There might be some changes to how Council communicates in the future based on the Council's new direction and how they would like to communicate with the community. So watch this space and keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages for any updates, as well as our weekly radio gig and messages.

On that note, earlier this week the NSW Electoral Commission finally released the declarations of the poll. On Monday, Mayor Digby Rayward was declared the successful candidate for the Mayoralty and I met with Mayor Rayward on Monday and congratulated him on his success.

Then, late yesterday afternoon, we were also formally advised by the NSW Electoral Commission regarding the results for each of the Wards. We have three Wards, Ward A, Ward B and Ward C. For those of you who did vote, you would know what ward you are in.

In Ward A, the successful candidates were Councillor Michael Dowling and Councillor Liam Ley. Congratulations! Councillor Dowling is a returning councillor, so it'll be great to see him back on with us. And Councillor Ley is a new councillor. It was really great to see him come to the candidate sessions prior to the elections and to be successful in his campaign, well done.

In Ward B down there in Clarence Town and Paterson areas, we have Councillor Steve Low returning with us. It’s great to see Steve back on with Council and we look forward to working with him. And we've got another new councillor, Councillor James Campbell. Now I haven't met James yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. I believe he did a great campaign, so congratulations to our Ward B Councillors.

Over in Ward C, we've got two new councillors. We have Councillor Alexandria Carruthers, who I did meet briefly before the election, and I want to congratulate Alexandria on her great performance in the election, well done. We've also got Fred Paton, who is another new councillor in Ward C. I did know Fred from beforehand, and he's been very helpful with Council in terms of his dealings with us, and certainly trying to help us progress some of our strategic planning documents and made some submissions in relation to our strategy. So it will be great to see Fred on Council and we look forward to working with him as well. So once again, congratulations and welcome.

We also have the Council's green waste kerbside clean-up on October 14. This service is available to all properties within 50 kilometers of sign posted town areas in the villages of Dungog, Clarence Town, Paterson, Vacy, Martins Creek, Gresford, and East Gresford. Please leave your green waste out on the weekend prior to the collection date. All details can be found on our Facebook page, so if you're interested, go there.

The final days for the Australia Day nominations are approaching and they will be closing on the 18th October. I know we've talked about this a fair bit but we're really encouraging people to be recognised in the community for what they're doing. So please take some time to go on to our Facebook page and our website. You can nominate online via the website. We've tried to make it as easy as possible for you. So please take the time to nominate someone in our community that you think is deserving of those awards. The website outlines all the different categories of awards as well. We've tried to help as much as we can to get as many people as possible nominated. The committee will be really looking forward to seeing those nominations, so please head on to the website for Australia Day nominations.

Last but not least, the roads and infrastructure update for next week. I think the main story coming out is going to be the Clarence Town road works commencement in segment six, which is the section just north of the Dungog Road intersection.  I really look forward to seeing those works done. It's quite a busy road. So next week, those works are scheduled to commence. The traffic management arrangements that are going to be in place there include traffic control and temporary traffic lights, and they're going to be setting up the construction site next week; they're going to be establishing those traffic control measures, and there will also be some earthworks that are going to occur. So keep your eye open for that. Make sure you follow all the road safety signage and the traffic control lights that are on site. It's great to see that start. Actually, that project was endorsed by the previous Council at its Extraordinary meeting on the 7th August. KCE Contractors were successful in the tender for Clarence Town segments four, five and six, of which six is commencing next week. The total project tender acceptance was $4.168 million. Fantastic project and it’s great to see it commencing next week.

I look forward to our new communications direction in the future. If you have any suggestions, by all means come into Council, send us an email, or give us a call at the Council building.

Thanks for your time and have a lovely long weekend. Don't forget double merits. See you later.