Lismore City Council Mayor Isaac Smith is excited about what’s ahead for Council this coming year – 2020.

“Last year was about finding a new foundation for Council and re-establishing a place to start from again,” he said. 

“We are rewriting two decades of an old way of running Council and coming back to a better, more sustainable financial model of operating council - and getting back to our core business.”

Last year saw many challenges for Lismore City Council, including dealing with a backlog of roadworks and the potential introduction of a Special Rates Variation (SRV) which would raise money to fix the roads.

Mayor Smith said one of the challenges for Councillors was to juggle priorities and fulfill community expectations.

“Especially when people tell me they want to spend money on roads and also want spending on things like culture, the Quad, sports and the arts,” he said.

“We needed a better way of allocating funds, so we have a new plan to tackle our $54 million road backlog and bring it up to a standard that we all expect.

“It will be the largest investment in our road network in living memory.”

However, the introduction of the SRV, which would see property rates rise by up to 25%, is not a certainty.

“We have sent our submission for an SRV to IPART, but we won’t hear back from them until April – and there is no guarantee IPART will make any changes to rates," he said.

“Richmond Valley and Ballina Councils were knocked back on their first application and had to change it and reapply. 

“People in the community can still provide feedback to IPART until late February.

 “In May, Council will then resolve the new budget for the coming year.”

Roads

Mayor Smith said over the next six months, roadworks were still the main priority and works on resealing local roads would continue.

“We need to make sure we keep the road surface in the best condition possible, so they deteriorate slower,” he said. 

 “We would love to see more commitment from the State Government to help with maintaining our regional road network.

“All major regional roads leading from Lismore to Nimbin, Bangalow, Woodburn and Coraki are managed by local Council and the State Government.

“The State Government committed in the last election to take back these roads off local government and increase regional roads funding and we need to fight for this to still happen.

“The SRV is targeted at the local road network, not at regional roads. We have 1500 kilometres of road network we need to maintain.”

CBD

Mayor Smith said restimulating economic development in the Lismore Central Business District is another key priority for the coming year.

“Last year, we saw some CBD businesses close, but three times as many opened,” he said.

“Investment with love is a good thing for the CBD as we embrace our river city again. 

“With funding from the State government, we will commence breathing new life into the CBD with small grants for our local businesses. It will also allow us to commence work on the Back Alley Gallery.

“The NBN has finally finished rolling out fibre to the curb and we have plans to bring back key industries into the CBD again.

“Our area has a history of agriculture and we can revitalise our centre by bringing agricultural offices back.

“There are businesses working on the flood channel; there’s the airport industrial lab and cold storage food production. These will boost industrial and commercial spaces and bring the rural heart into the CBD. 

“It’s important we turn back to the river again – it’s the first highway that grew our town.

“We can make it an enjoyable public and community setting and see more walking and dining near the river. 

The Quad

“Creating the Lismore Quad proved to be amazing success. We are now meeting with a number of businesses to expand it and make it a better public space, including accommodation options and other businesses.

“We will be issuing Expressions of Interest to shape the development of accommodation and conference facilities surrounding our unique Quad."

Mayor Smith said he was still not ruling out Council moving back to the CBD.

“It will inject millions if we bring the local government departments back into town,” he said.

Sport

“Oakes and Crozier Ovals will also see an $8 million upgrade soon. It’s part of our economic development strategy and we have new funding from the state government to implement stage 2 of the upgrade.

“We’ll see a better entry way into the facility and access for all mobility types. There will be brand new change rooms that will benefit all - particularly women.

“We’ll also be building a new facility between the two grandstands that will be a function space and open area for events. 

“This is good because sporting events attract more than 20,000 additional tourists every year, spending over $2.3 million in our economy.

“The project will create the Lismore Regional Sports Hub and cater for the needs of officials, players and spectators in rugby league, rugby union, cricket, soccer and AFL.

“There will also be noticeable changes at Lismore Airport with fewer flights cancelled and delayed due to bad weather, thanks to a $4.5 million Federal Government investment. 

“It means we can attract Pilot Training Schools from other more expensive airports like Brisbane and the Gold Coast.”

Budget

Mayor Smith said the Council budget was on track.

“It’s a big organisation and we are now in a better place than we’ve been in all my 12 years on council,” he said.

“We’ve created a place to begin and grow from – and the community demands growth toward a sustainable, environmental and financial future.

“We had a deficit and we removed it.

"It doesn’t mean there won’t be future challenges, but we’ve taken away the obstacles and are looking forward to the coming two years and tackling these changes.”