The election of Byron Shire Councillors Mayor Sarah Ndiaye and Elia Hauge to the Rous County Council (RCC) will see them working with six other elected councillors from Ballina, Richmond Valley and Lismore Councils with a key issue of contention being the Dunoon dam over the next four years.
From a cursory look at the positions of the various councillors elected to RCC it would appear that there are six in favour of building the Dunoon dam and Crs Ndiaye and Hauge against.
Cr Eva Ramsey from Ballina Council and Mayor Steve Krieg from Lismore Council along with Cr Hauge are newly appointed while Crs Sharon Cadwallader, Sarah Ndiaye, Andrew Gordon, Robert Mustow and Sandra Humphrys have returned this term.
‘These councillors have a grave responsibility to educate themselves on all the various strategies to give us water security for our region,’ Water Northern Rivers Alliance representative, Nan Nichholson, told The Echo.
‘They need to examine the science, the economic costs, the social and cultural effects and the environmental effects, all within the context of a changing climate. The past is not necessarily a guide to the future and engineering solutions like big dams, which worked well in the past, can no longer give us water security.’
Mustow as Chair
At the Council Meeting, the group elected Cr Robert Mustow as Chair and Cr Sharon Cadwallader as Deputy Chair of Rous’ governing body for the first two years of the term – both served in the same positions last term.
‘I am proud to have been appointed as Chair once again by my fellow councillors,’ said Cr Robert Mustow, Rous Chair and Richmond Valley Council Mayor.
‘I will continue to represent our community with integrity on important decisions relating to water, weed biosecurity and rural flood mitigation.’
At the Council Meeting, Cr Elia Hauge was appointed as the primary non-voting member for the Audit Risk and Improvement Committee, and Cr Sarah Ndiaye as the alternative non-voting member. Rous’ governing body also elected Cr Sarah Ndiaye as the Chair of the Reconciliation Action Plan Advisory Group, and Cr Elia Hauge as the alternative Chair.
The role of the councillors serving on Rous’ governing body is to represent their constituent councils and make decisions that are in the best interests of the region Rous serves.
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