On Tuesday, Lismore City Council GM Michael Donnelly facilitated the swearing-in of the new Mayor and ten Councillors in the chambers at Goonellabah.
One by one the Mayor and each Councillor spoke the oath or affirmation:
‘I solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will undertake the duties of the office of councillor in the best interests of the people of the Lismore local government area, and the Lismore city council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, Powers Authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other act to the best of my ability and judgement.’
One of the expectations on Councillors is that they will sit on committees and panels through the LGA.
Cr Vanessa Ekins said that there are a lot of council committees and she would encourage Councillors to nominate for as many as they like. ‘Committees are a really important way of facilitating community engagement with what Council does.
‘You can see by the range of the committee’s how many functions Council performs, and it’s a really good way of getting feedback from the community and providing information to the community about what Council’s role is and how they can have an impact on decisions.
Cr Ekins said she is on six committees. ‘They are a great way to engage the community.’
Committees and panels
- Aboriginal Advisory Group:
Cr Steve Krieg, Cr Elly Bird, Cr Vanessa Ekins and Cr Big Rob - Access and Inclusion Advisory Group:
Cr Vanessa Ekins and Cr Big Rob - Arts Northern Rivers:
Cr Bird - Audit, Risk & Improvement Committee:
Cr Andrew Bing and Cr Peter Colby - District Bushfire Management Committee:
Cr Elly Bird - General Manager’s Performance Review Committee:
Cr Steve Krieg, Cr Peter Colby and Cr Andrew Gordon - Lismore Floodplain Management Committee:
Cr Elly Bird, Cr Vanessa Ekins, Cr Electra Jensen and Cr Big Rob - Nimbin Advisory Group:
Cr Steve Krieg - NORPA Cultural Alliance:
Cr Peter Colby, Cr Vanessa Ekins and Cr Jeri Hall - Northern Rivers Joint Organisation:
Cr Steve Krieg - Northern Regional Planning Panel:
No one as yet - NSW Rural Fire Service Zone Liaison Committee:
Cr Elly Bird - Richmond River Historical Society Committee:
Cr Darlene Cook - Richmond Tweed Regional Library:
Cr Peter Colby, Cr Darlene Cook and Cr Elly Bird (alternate) - Rous County Council:
Cr Andrew Gordon and Cr Big Rob - Sister City Advisory Panel:
Cr Andrew Bing and Cr Vanessa Ekins - Social Justice & Crime Prevention Committee:
No one as yet - Traffic Advisory Group:
Cr Jeri Hall
New Council.
Well let’s hope they fix the shocking pot holes around town damaging cars.
Holes on the Old Lismore Cutting in blind spots shaded by trees that you don’t know they are there until you hit them.
How about you put effort into roads in 2022.
Wow Big Rob is on the Aboriginal Advisory committee and Rous Council… confused to say the least, please sweet creator let this term be short and the damage be minimal.
I’m also Confused about that, and the Lismore Floodplain Management Committee is another one that leaves me shaking my head, Rob’s advice leading into the 2017 flood was, it’s not going to flood, followed by him streaming the levee topping as his own business flooded.
Is there any correlation between the Council and the SES. If so it would be good if the SES were empowered to act immediately and not 12 hours after an emergency that had been predicted. Surely they could have been in action at dawn like other private citizens were. Does the Council have any say?