Early last week, the NSW Electoral Commission officially declared Steve Krieg as the new Mayor of Lismore for the next four years. The day after, they declared the other ten councillors who will make up Lismore City Council for the next four years.

They are Jeri Hall, Andrew Gordon, Electra Jensen, Andrew Bing, Gianpiero Battista, Adam Guise, Virginia Waters, Harper Dalton-Earls, Jasmine Knight-Smith and Big Rob.

Split into ticket results: Steve Krieg = 6, The Greens = 2, Labor = 2 and Big Rob.

Talking Lismore, the Lismore App podcast series (Podcasts), sat down with Mayor Krieg to discuss what the priorities are for the next four years. Water security, flood mitigation, housing and growth.

Despite having six members on his ticket in council, and thus having control of council if they wish to use numbers, Mayor Krieg says he wants to get the viewpoint of every councillor.

"I know there's a lot of speculation and an innuendo about us controlling Council. It's not about us controlling or driving our personal agendas. Quite the contrary. We want to get the viewpoints of every councilor and make the best and most informed decision based on the information provided to us.

"Obviously, there are things that we want to see progress over the next four years as a group, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. We hope that the other councillors who are elected will jump on board with that, just as we will be happy to jump on board with any ideas or suggestions that they may have to progress Lismore and make Lismore the great city it deserves to be."

"Every councillor has the mandate to vote the way that they choose to, given the information provided to them. Clearly, there are different viewpoints in the chamber and different ideologies in the chamber, but that's democracy. Every strong democracy has different viewpoints driving it. The key to it is finding middle ground, possibly finding a compromised solution.

"The beauty of our group is that we are independent. We do come from a diverse background, and so if a particular person who ran on my ticket disagrees with myself or the majority, then they have every right to vote the way they feel. We saw that last term, and there's no doubt we'll probably see it again this term.

"As far as the big ticket items that I think the overall community want to see, we will be very much united in driving the prosperity and the future growth of Lismore forward."

As for what the big ticket items are?

"The biggest one, no doubt, is in and around our water security and also flood mitigation, probably the most topical and controversial if you like, discussion that you can have, not only in the Lismore LGA but over the broader Northern Rivers region.

"It'll be interesting to see the makeup of the Rous County Council, who ultimately control water security and flood mitigation to a certain extent. But for us, we want to see number one flood mitigation.

"For Lismore to grow and thrive, we need a level of protection. We also need some certainty in and around insurance, which is a major issue in this city at the moment. Securing some level of affordable insurance is all tied to flood mitigation.

"We have to be able to protect our residents, protect our businesses, and I know we are all waiting anxiously for poor old Dr Vaze and his report to come out in June (2025), and poor Jai Vaze is under the most pressure out of anyone. But I trust the science, and I will certainly trust the report that he produces and fight as hard as I can to ensure that every possible outcome out of that report is funded and built."

Is insurance hindering investment in Lismore now?

"Not necessarily. I don't think they have to wait. I mean, those sorts of developments traditionally take a little while to get through all the different hoops and hurdles they've got to go through. But I know of two pretty significant developments that are out of flood but close to the CBD that are already in the planning stages, which is really exciting.

"I know of some other major businesses that are having a strong look at Lismore to relocate to, but none of these things will pop up overnight or spring into action straight away. So I think if you time you run properly, and you start your preliminary thought processes and planning now, by the time that flood mitigation work sort of rolls around, there's a fair chance that that will tie in."

The final Rous Council meeting before the September elections voted on exploring two water security options, the Dunoon Dam and Aquifers. Expensive and high energy usage Desalination Plants and Recycled Water were taken off the table. What do you support?

"We live in the highest rainfall area in the state, and we can't provide water for our population for longer than nine months. You know, we're very fortunate in a lot of ways that we have the rainfall that we do to keep our very small dam filled, to be able to keep us in fresh water. And as citizens, we're probably all guilty of taking it for granted. We turn the tap on, and water comes out every single time. It's not until you've lived in a low rainfall area that you really treasure how important water and fresh, clean water is.

"Now, again, I'm going to back the science, and I'm going to back the experts to recommend the best way forward. Living in a high rainfall area like this, if you have to rely on recycled water, to me personally, that's an issue. We shouldn't be building these mega plants to turn wastewater into fresh water when we get enough. We just saw on the weekend (last weekend), we had 300 mils of rain. Now, why aren't we harvesting that?

"First and foremost, it's as clean as you can get. You know exactly where it's come from. It makes sense to harvest rainwater, rather than building these mega plants to try and recycle water or desalinate water. It just doesn't make sense. Given our topography and geography, there have got to be better options."

What else is on the agenda for the next four years?

"We're going to focus very much on the civic pride of Lismore, making sure that our CBD is well presented. I know everyone's hammering us at the moment that we've done nothing with roads, and I get that, but we've rolled out the biggest pothole funding in Lismore's history over the last couple of years.

"Now, again, I'm not making excuses, but the facts are, 300 mils of rain in two days has a dramatic effect on already crumbling road surfaces, so that's something that we're going to have to deal with and live with. But what I will say is that we're just about to roll out the biggest road repair program that Lismore has ever seen. It's scheduled to take us right through to probably 2030 before that is completed.

"So you won't just see roads patched. You'll see roads actually rebuilt to a better standard than they've ever been before, and if you want to see an example of that, go down Richmond Hill Road. Now, Council's spent the best part of a year rebuilding Richmond Hill Road, and that's best practice, and that road should hold up for many decades to come.

We've got the funding now and the capability to roll that out, as I said, over the next six years to rebuild a lot of our flood and water-damaged roads. It's really exciting."

What about housing? It's at crisis point, not just in Lismore but the Northern Rivers and NSW. I know there are a lot of variables, such as the NSWRA, NSW Government and planning approvals for land release etc, can you see houses being built in the next four years?

"Council can't build the houses for people, but we can make the land available, and we've done that. Only last week, we opened the $7 million sewage pump station up off Pineapple Road in Gonellabah. Now that's freed up up to 600 potential blocks of land up on that plateau. Now it's up to the developers to utilise that piece of infrastructure. There are already blocks that have been pegged out up there to be able to begin that development.

"Now, I know the RA has their Resilient Lands program, but I think we've got to look at that as a separate package to the general needs of housing for our residents.

"Again, in an Australian first, I believe, being able to get the Lismore LGA able to subdivide RU1 land, rural land, so our hobby farmers, our maca farmers, our dairy farmers, can actually cut off one block. Now, that's only one block, but that's what the legislation says. That will open up a potential 3000 new home sites across our LGA. So people that have family or friends with a bit of acreage can negotiate with them and get a house site on their land.

"And there's the potential there for those bought back homes, those beautiful bought back homes down in North and South Lismore, to be relocated at a pretty affordable price. You know, through the Lismore Council's lobbying of the state government to be able to do that has taken the best part of the year. The planning minister has just signed off on that. That, again, is a first, and it's a bit of lateral thinking by this council.

"I can't praise our staff enough the work that they do behind the scenes to make these sorts of things happen, but that is literally 3000 brand new home sites. For me, housing has to incorporate a diversity of housing to fit in with the diversity of our population. We've got high-level executive people here that might want a couple of acres of rural residential, with the big farm shed or whatever the case may be. We've also got young single nurses who might want a two or three-bedroom apartment or a townhouse. We need to be able to cater for everyone.

"If Lismore is to grow and thrive, we don't want our 18 to 22-year-old young people leaving Lismore because they've got nowhere to live, or they don't want to live with mum and dad anymore, sadly. But you know, we also want to attract young families who want the quarter-acre block and room for the swing set and the sandpit for the little ones. We want that progression, and we want to be able to provide that diversity of housing. And so it's about getting the mix right.

"We also do need an element of social housing, there's no doubt about that. Where that fits and how that works is, again, up to our council planners and strategic planners, but it's a core to an effective housing strategy."

Due to housing being a priority, do you have a population goal in mind?

"I've been playing around with figures in my head for months, and what actually triggered me was a visit to another local government area not far from Lismore. They had a goal of, I won't name the city, but it was 100,000 by 2030. That was their little slogan. And I sort of got to thinking, we're sitting at about 44,000 people at the moment.

"You want to be able to control the growth, to be able to provide the infrastructure, to a certain extent, you can't have exponential growth without being able to provide schools and adequate medical facilities and all of those key components of enjoyable living. We've seen fast growth have an impact on those services in Western Sydney, for example, where there are more kids than school spaces available and the like. So, you need to be able to monitor and make sure that your community's growing with the population.

"I'd like to think that we can get to 60,000 by 2040. So, my little slogan is Lismore, 60/40, which lives in my weird little head. But I think that's achievable. I think it's a good target to have, and again, we've got to get the balance right. We want to be able to attract young families, to get those people here. We need good jobs, so we need a strong economy. It all sort of flows and fits in together.

"I'd like to think that we can hit 60,000 by 2040, and that will help everyone who is currently here. It'll take a lot of pressure off our current ratepayers. With a greater rate base you don't have to put your fees and charges up so much because you've got a bigger pool who are spreading the load.

"It's something that we're very passionate about, growing Lismore and seeing our economy and our population grow and thrive and really become the heart and soul of the Northern Rivers."

To listen to the full Talking Lismore Podcasts, click on the front page of the Lismore App, near jobs and funerals or click here for the website.