Former councillors appointed to advisory committee

All former Gosford councillors, except mayor Mr Lawrie McKinna, have been appointed to the Local Representation Committee of the new Central Coast Council.

All former Wyong councillors, including mayor Mr Doug Eaton, were also appointed to the committee.

According to Central Coast Council's administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, the NSW Government strongly recommended the establishment of the committee to provide former councillors committed to the success of the new council, with an opportunity to continue to serve their communities until the elections in September 2017.

Mr Reynolds said the committee would not exercise any decision-making function of the Central Coast Council, nor would its recommendations bind council.

Community member, Mr Kevin Armstrong, spoke at the extraordinary meeting of the Central Coast Council on June 29 asking that the committee be made up of nine former councillors and nine community representatives.

He said the merged Palerang and Queanbeyan Council had appointed eight former councillors and invited members of the public to express interest in joining the committee.

Mr Reynolds did not amend the recommendation to appoint all former councillors to the committee.

"I am actually quite pleased to report there was significant interest from the former councillors with 18 putting in expressions of interest," Mr Reynolds said.

"It is important to address the concerns expressed by Mr Armstrong," he said.

"The committee will not be the sole means by which the community engages with council, it will be one of many," he said.

"At my last meeting in Gosford I asked for a report on the best way to carry out our engagement with the community.

"I ask that Mr Armstrong and those who share his concerns watch this space because I am confident they will learn that council wants to engage with them in world class ways," he said.

The size of the committee resulted in Mr Reynolds deciding to divide it into three working groups, each with six councillors.

The three groups will be the Environment Working Group, Economic Working Group and Community Working Group.

The Local Representative Committee will meet for the first time in July and Working Groups will meet once each calendar month.

Mr Reynolds said the NSW Government had intended the local representation committee to specifically be a mechanism for former councillors because he, as administrator, came from out of the area and would benefit from their local knowledge and connections.

He said all 18 councillors had been happy to sign a statement expressing their support for the new council.

They would each be asked to indicate their preferences for which working group they wished to join.

Media release, 29 Jun 2016

Ron Noble, Central Coast Council

Central Coast Council extraordinary meeting, 29 Jun 2016

Interview, 29 Jun 2016

Ian Reynolds, Central Coast Council

Reporter: Jackie Pearson