Last Tuesday's Lismore City Council meeting revealed a number of discussion points that the Lismore App wanted to discuss with Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg.

CBD safety, Council staff restructure, car park plan near Oakes Oval, the East Lismore Sewage Treatment Plant, and the new skatepark facility in the CBD were all on the list when the Lismore App recorded a Talking Lismore podcast.

LISMORE SKATEPARK

The new Lismore Skatepark has been in use for the last two weeks. It has seen people of all ages riding skateboards, scooters and pushbikes on the world-standard facility that will host national competitive events in the years to come.

Mayor Krieg puts the new skatepark in the excellence basket, and admitted to never being a skater, but has had discussions with those who are as to how to improve the facility and make it more attractive in the future.

"It'll be an evolution around that area as to how we can activate that a little bit more to cater for a broader range of people. But I couldn't be more happy for our skate community, who really haven't had a good skate park for a long time. To be honest, the old metal half pipe over behind Heritage Park was not much fun.

(A large crowd gathered at the new Lismore Skatepark on Saturday to watch demonstrations and enjoy the new facility. Photo: Lismore City Council)

"Number one, that was raised was a beginner's area for a start, like those just learning the very basics. Somewhere where they can go exclusively, where they're not going to get hit by a more experienced skater and the like.

"The other idea was a pump track for bikes. As much as bike riders love doing the half pipes or whatever the case may be, or the scooters, having a dedicated pump track for those two-wheel options is something that was discussed today.

"We can't commit to anything. It's something that we'd have to look for some grant funding to do. But how good would that be?"

Mayor Krieg said the CONVIC team, the company that specialises in building adventure parks around Australia, felt you could build a very exciting pump track in the space that is available.

Skatepark rules leading to community safety were also spoken about.

"Everyone's entitled to use it, but it is designed to be used in a particular way. And we were talking today about maybe putting some signs up about the rules and how to use the skate park properly to minimise the accidents.

"And again, that's something that as a council, we will be speaking to the skate community about how best to do it and what message is best to promote there, so that you do minimise harm for everyone. But it is a public facility.

"I want it to be well looked after, well maintained and utilised, and by all accounts, that's exactly what the skater community wants as well. We'll just hopefully keep growing that precinct and keep making it a world-class venue."

CBD SAFETY

CBD safety has been the talk of the town on social media pages in the last two weeks. How does council, along with police and Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin, make the CBD safer for shoppers and shop owners?

"It saddens me greatly to understand the needs that are not being provided to certain elements of our community, and a lot of the problems that are arising are due to mental health issues, and we need to be better as a community to be able to provide for these people.

"I mentioned today to someone, we have rehab facilities for people who break their legs or have spinal injuries or whatever the case may be, because they're physical injuries and you can actually see them, and they're tangible. Mental health is so much more difficult because you can't actually see the illness, other than the increased aggression or the unsociable behaviour.

"As I said, as a community, we actually need to be better at tackling this. And what does that look like? Because everyone deserves the right to feel safe, no matter where they are, whether it's walking around the CBD, whether it's running their business in the CBD. But we also need to provide the adequate care and medical support that these patients need, and quite clearly, we're not achieving that at the moment, so we do need to come together and find a solution."

The complaints the mayor receives are not limited to the CBD.

"It's not, sadly, confined to the CBD as well. There are several complaints about our Rail Trail and the little tent city that's popped up over there as well. So it's not just a CBD problem, sadly, but I will make the point that it's not just a Lismore problem either, and this is something that is a state issue, but probably broader than that, a national issue.

"We need to look at how we manage and facilitate the treatment of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and mental health issues, because it is a real disease and a real problem, and it's not fair to the patients who aren't getting the treatment that they deserve. It's not fair on the people who have to deal with the symptoms that surface in and around the shopping precinct, for example."

EAST LISMORE POD VILLAGE

Our pod village was discussed during last week's council meeting. There were comments that it didn't have many residents and was a waste of a resource. What do you know?

"I know that there's a hell of a lot more people utilising that resource than what was suggested during the council meeting. The pod village in Lismore, for me, is something that will need to be looked at for its future use at some point. But the reality is that the Lismore and probably the Coraki pod villages will still be used to house our flood victims for a little while yet.

"And I think trying to expedite the future use of that particular site is premature. There's a lot of groundwork to be put in. It's also on the site that the state government has just bought off Southern Cross University to create the Resilient Lands Program, the 400 or so blocks up there.

"It's not just as simple as some would like, or some would suggest. It's more of a complex problem, but it's something also that Lismore City Council has been dealing with the state government for, and I don't think it's necessarily for the forum of Council at the moment to start advocating one way or another, because we're just not there yet. It has been extended till 2027 at the moment."

EAST LISMORE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT

Does the East Lismore Sewage Treatment Plant still have a shortfall in government funding to rebuild it?

"It's been highlighted at the highest level of state government, with the premier. Again, we were able to have a couple of meetings only last week in Parliament House and raise that issue again. It's certainly the gift that keeps on giving, there's no doubt about that.

"There's no easy solution to it, but Lismore City Council is currently negotiating perhaps an alternative solution, which I don't really want to expand upon at the moment, but we've come up with a different or an alternative way of funding this project, which is not exactly as one would intend.

"I've copped a fair bit of flack over some of my outlandish comments, or as some would see them, but the reality is, we're dealing with a middle management type scenario, and we want to cut that level out and just deal direct with the funding source, so that council can actually get on and design and build exactly what we want and and we think by doing that, we'll be able to save the tens of millions of dollars that we might need to build it back.

"We've got some amazing people in this space who are chomping at the bit to have a crack at it. So, for me, it makes sense to back our own people in, but there's always got to be an element of control. It seems that signing over a check to the tune of $60, 70 or $80 million is not in the state government's mantra without knowing where it's going to be spent."

LISMORE CITY COUNCIL STAFF RESTRUCTURE

Mayor Krieg mentioned that new General Manager Eber Butron has been with Lismore City Council for nearly five years, so he understands the machinations of council.

"He's seen what works and he's seen what doesn't work, and so Eber's now tasked with finding efficiencies in our organisation asl part of our long-term financial plan to be more sustainable. And I think the people of Lismore want to see more people out and about, doing the parks and gardens, doing the road patching, doing all of those tangible things that council should be doing, rather than having a lot of people drafting and developing things that are probably not seen so much.

"The preliminary procedures are underway to consult with the staff, to consult with the unions, as to what that looks like. I can't say too much about it because these are people in our community who might, in some way, be impacted by these things. But I'm exceptionally proud of the work that our council does, but we all know we can do better."

Mayor Krieg mentioned how the Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Road A-League pre-season clash at Oakes Oval recently came together with only three and a half weeks' notice. Council staff worked hard to make it happen. This has led to the possibility of future games.

"I've spoken to both the Jets and the Roar about what they want to see in the future. And again, I wish I could say more about what that looks like, but we'll be developing a bit of a prospectus for both those clubs as to what it looks like in the future. But I think this time next year, Lismore might be pleasantly surprised about what the potential is coming to the city through the A-League. We've got a lot of work to do, but both teams expressed their desire to return, which is great."

CAR PARKING IN THE CBD

In 2025, Lismore has hosted the Legends of Cricket and now the A-League press season game at Oakes Oval with large crowds. There is the potential for the AFL and NRL to play a part in future pre-season matches too. Does it make sense to creat more parking around the house buyback area of Cathcart Street?

"Everything is on the table at the moment. There's nothing in writing, but already we're thinking about future use of the flood-prone lands from the buybacks. Clearly, part of the buyback principle is not to return residential accommodation to those properties. So then what do you do with the land? And it's either light industrial or commercial type setups, which we need to grow. There's no doubt we need more industry and more jobs in Lismore. So that's an option.

"But also, as you say, in and around oaks and Crozier oval, we do need more car parking for those bigger events like the A-League soccer, like the blues when they come to town, like the rugby union Grand Finals, when you could have eight teams from eight different towns all descending on Lismore to use Oakes and Crozier for the Rugby Union grand final day.

"We need to be able to accommodate larger crowds. And we all know public transport is not an option here, so to be able to be within close walking distance to our facilities would be great. But as I said, that's not a decision that's locked away or even really been planned, but it is in the thought bubble of what to do with those lands into the future, that's for sure."

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

In previous podcasts, we have asked the mayor about residential and commercial investment and developments. When will we see graders on the ground or cranes in the air?

"We're definitely closer now than we were during the last podcast. There are elements of confidentiality around a lot of the stuff that myself and the other councillors are aware of. I wish I could say more, but let me just say that through the private sector investment that are interested in coming to Lismore, I think the lead up to Christmas, and even a little bit further through to Easter, I would be very surprised if we don't see some form of movement in and around residential, commercial, sorts of and other types of investment as well.

"For me, it's not just about recovery, it's about rebirth and actually seeing tangible growth. We don't want to hover around the 40 to 45,000 mark for population. We want to see that growth hitting 50,000 and gradually climbing as we can accommodate those people and and bringing the young professional families into the town.

"There are good jobs here, whether they're nurses or specialists at the hospital or whatever their chosen profession or how they make a living, we want to be able to accommodate them.

"Everyone complains about their rates notice, well, one way to keep rates low is to get a bigger rate base. So, I'm excited about the potential of the growth of our region, but in particular in and around Lismore. I go to bed every night, hoping and praying that one of these proposals will get grow legs and we'll we'll see some action.

There is one thing for sure: by the next podcast, we'll be a step closer.

To listen to the full Talking Lismore Podcast, click Talking Lismore podcast for the App or here for the website podcast.