Lismore City Council has officially begun its move back into the heart of the city, with the first staff now settling into the historic Municipal Building in the CBD.

The relocation follows a Council resolution last year to bring employees back into the city centre by utilising buildings it owns, manages or leases, a move designed to reinvigorate the CBD and improve coordination across teams.

Mayor Steve Krieg walked the Lismore App through the century-old building today, the day after Council held its first Councillor Briefing in the restored chambers. From now on, all Council Meetings will also be held there.

This is a staged transition, and for now, customer service remains at Oliver Avenue in Goonellabah.

“We don’t have customer service facilities here,” Mayor Krieg explained. “Oliver Avenue still has our call centre and our customer service there, but there are other options and opportunities. At the moment it was about getting a pretty sizable footprint back down into the CBD.”

That footprint includes finance staff, payroll, People and Culture teams, IT staff, and Council’s executive team. The large ground-floor hall now houses rows of desks, while smaller offices accommodate payroll and other teams. There is still space for a few additional teams in coming months.

The move has provided more than just a new location, it’s also managed better coordination.

“We have six executive members and they will be spending at least two days a week down here,” the Mayor said. “It’s really important that we run a coordinated program… our roads team is talking to our finance team, who’s talking to our Open Spaces team.”

Previously, those departments were spread across different sites including Oliver Avenue, the Brunswick Street Depot and the depot on Wyrallah Road.

“To get them all in the same room was a real challenge at the best of times,” he said. “Now they’ve all got desk space here and it enables that communication in a much better manner. It’s not only going to make people’s lives easier, but it’s going to save a lot of money if you’re running a coordinated program.”

Flood resilience was clearly front of mind in the decision to return to the CBD. The building underwent restoration using disaster recovery funding and has been fitted out with minimalistic, easily movable furniture, raised electrical systems and a backup generator.

“In 2017 the flood came about 50 centimetres into the bottom floor,” Mayor Krieg said. “Even if we got another 2017 scale flood, we’re looking at very minimal damage… it would literally be a washout, let it dry for a few days and we’d be back in less than a week.”

He added that the 2022 flood did not reach the upper level where key operations are now based. “We can be out of this building in two hours,” he said. “All of the control, power, everything is well above the 2022 flood height.”

Security and staff safety have also been considered, with office areas able to be closed off during public meetings.

As we walked past marble honour boards and original architectural features, the Mayor spoke about the importance of recognising Lismore’s history while positioning the city for the future.

“We are one of the oldest regional centres in New South Wales,” he said. “Recognising where we come from, but not only that, where we want to get to, is really important.”

The Mayor has also brought his original mayoral desk down from Goonellabah, and the Jacqueline Wagner flood photo collection is being installed in executive offices, a reminder, he said, of why the work matters.

“It keeps me very grounded about why we do what we do. It’s not about myself as a person, it’s about the position and the people that we serve.”

For CBD businesses, the return of Council staff is expected to bring welcome foot traffic.

“What a great opportunity to explore our CBD,” Mayor Krieg said he told staff. “You don’t have to settle for a pre-packed lunch… you can literally just go for a walk, buy your Christmas presents, get a coffee.”

While customer service operations remain in Goonellabah for now, the long-term vision includes exploring additional forward-facing services in the CBD, potentially in the Terania building in a future budget.

For now, though, the message is clear: Council is coming back home, carefully, strategically, and with one eye on both the city’s history and its future.