Late Agenda of Council Meeting - Thursday, 30 September 2021

Councillor Contact Details

Granville Ward
Clr Steve Christou (Mayor)	0419 651 187	Steve.Christou@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Joseph Rahme	0418 995 471	Joseph.Rahme@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Ola Hamed	0405 070 007	Ola.Hamed@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Greystanes Ward
Clr Eddy Sarkis (Deputy Mayor)	0418 306 918	Eddy.Sarkis@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Greg Cummings	0417 612 717	Greg.Cummings@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Vacant	-	-
Regents Park Ward
Clr Ned Attie	0419 583 254	Ned.Attie@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr George Campbell	0409 233 315	George.Campbell@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Kun Huang	0418 911 774	Kun.Huang@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
South Granville Ward
Clr Paul Garrard	0414 504 504	Paul.Garrard@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Tom Zreika	0400 805 303	Tom.Zreika@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Glenn Elmore	0418 459 527	Glenn.Elmore@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Wentworthville Ward
Clr Michael Zaiter	0418 432 797	Michael.Zaiter@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Suman Saha	0419 546 950	Suman.Saha@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Lisa Lake	0418 669 681	Lisa.Lake@cumberland.nsw.gov.au

For information on Council services and facilities please visit www.cumberland.nsw.gov.au

Council Meeting

30 September 2021

Item No: MM09/21-75

Mayoral Minute - Achievements During Current Mayoral Term

Author: Mayor Steve Christou

File Number: SC486

Summary

It has been a privilege and honour to serve the community and this Council for the past two years.

I would like to begin by thanking my fellow Councillors who have supported me and ensured that this Council has recorded some major achievements. Without their support, advice, and commitment to our local residents it’s fair to say that not much would have been achieved. I have been fortunate enough to work with a great group of Councillors.

To my Liberal Councillor Colleagues, Ned Attie, Joe Rahme, Tom Zreika, & Michael Zaiter, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support & friendship. Over the past two years we have developed a deep friendship and understanding and as a result our community is a much better place due to the bi partisan support you have shown.

To my own Our Local Community Party colleagues Councillor Paul Garrard, and Deputy Mayor Eddy Sarkis, thank you for accepting me into the group and for all your ongoing support and love. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you both and I look forward to continuing to work with you regardless of tonight’s outcome. I would also like to thank Councillor Cummings for his support throughout this Mayoral term.

To my own family my beautiful wife Josephine, and twin daughters Nicola & Isabella thank you for putting up with me, for all your support, and your ongoing sacrifices you have made to support me. I’d like to thank my wife Josephine for the sacrifices she has made. These sacrifices have included taking on the role of raising our daughters and other household responsibilities, whilst working her own job to enable me to fulfil my Mayoral commitments. It’s fair to say that over the last 14 years Josephine has been somewhat of a political widow and her efforts and sacrifices are not lost on me and deeply respected. Thank You Josie I love you more than words can say.

The last two years have yielded some of the most unprecedented times this Council has been through since it was formed. When I look back at the achievements of this Council during my time as Mayor, I feel a great sense of community pride.

As a Council we have achieved so much in the past 2 years, even whilst living through a harsh and dangerous pandemic, which we have carefully navigated through. I have taken my obligations as Mayor very seriously, and always worked extremely hard in the best interests of our community.

In January 2020, we led the charge for this Council to be titled a City, only befitting for a Council of this scale.

During this Mayoral term, we undertook some major capital works projects. Amongst them, were the launch of the new state of the art Granville Centre and a totally revamped Eric Tweedale Stadium, both game changer redevelopments in Granville. We also restored the exterior of the Granville Town Hall, preserving its heritage value for generations to come. The revamped Wentworthville Swimming pool also reopened, a great outcome for the local community.

We also provided much needed financial support to our pensioners, through an increase to the pensioner rebate. We took some very hard and sometimes unpopular decisions with regards to cost savings measures in an effort to improve Council’s budget position. We oversaw the launch of Council’s Economic Statement, which delivered honest and transparent leadership to our community regarding Council’s budget pressures.

Even with this tough financial position, this Council has supported the community and business at length through the Covid-19 pandemic, with various fee suspensions and rebates, always putting our people first.

We also appointed a new General Manager and adopted a new organisation structure during this time which will put this Council on solid ground in future, which the General Manager is keenly getting on with at present.

Throughout the pandemic and some of the harshest lockdowns in recent memory, I very strongly advocated for the people of Western Sydney, and kept Cumberland on the map. Council was one of the first organisations to have a vaccination hub established from NSW Health for vaccinating and protecting its staff. The General Manager and I have also attended a number of meetings with the Premier and her Ministers in Cabinet, to ensure the plight of the Cumberland community was always at the front and centre of their minds when undertaking broader decision making for the state with respect to Covid-19 and lockdowns.

As a key member of Council’s Incident Management team, I had good insight and daily input into key decisions that the group undertook with respect to Covid-19, and saw how hard the staff were working in the middle of lockdowns, often willing to put themselves in difficult positions to ensure the most vulnerable in our community were looked after.

Throughout all these key achievements and leading through a pandemic, this Council has always had front of mind the back to basics focus that I am so passionate about. We continue to build more and more footpaths, reseal roads, deliver infrastructure and renew facilities. I also continued to preside over Citizenship ceremonies, and recently commenced virtual ceremonies which was wonderful and incredibly rewarding to be a part of.

Whilst it would be impossible for me to list all the achievements and thank everybody involved, I am extremely proud of the achievements of this Council during my Mayoral term, and thank my fellow Councillors, the community, the former General Manager Mr Hamish McNulty, as well as our current General Manager Mr Peter Fitzgerald and all Council officers for all their support during my term as Mayor.

I have immensely enjoyed my time as Mayor of this City, and I look forward to continuing my unwavering commitment to the Cumberland community during the current Council term and beyond, in whatever capacity determined by Council this evening.

Therefore Councillors, tonight I am recommending the following:

Recommendation

That Council endorse the Mayoral Minute.

Attachments

Nil