Mayor of Kyogle: Danielle Mulholland elected unopposed
Familiar face Danielle Mulholland said she plans to “get cracking” to find a new general manager and agitate for funding as the re-elected Kyogle mayor. Here’s her plan.
Lismore
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Residents in the Kyogle local government area are welcoming back Danielle Mulholland to the top job after the incumbent councillor was re-elected in the September local government elections.
During the new council’s first meeting on Monday, Ms Mulholland was elected mayor unopposed with incumbent councillor John Burley elected deputy mayor.
Ms Mulholland previously served as Kyogle mayor from September 2013 to December 2021 while John Burley served as deputy mayor from 2014-2021. Both will serve their elected roles for two years.
Ms Mulholland said after a “challenging” previous term, she was looking forward to “putting the past behind”.
“We want to be positive with an active focus and get back to that ‘can do’ attitude that council has had before that served us really well,” Ms Mulholland said.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s a new council … we’ve got a clean slate opportunity.”
She said keen incoming councillors were “promising” and returning incumbents knew it was a “new day, new council, new attitude”.
“I think we will all be moving forward working together to make Kyogle council and our local government area shine,” she said.
“We want to be known for the quality of our staff and our work and for our council to be a desirable employer.”
Ms Mulholland joins re-elected northern NSW mayors Chris Cherry, Sharon Cadwallader, and Sarah Ndiaye with Clarence Valley Council to decide their mayor on Thursday.
Richmond Valley Council retains Robert Mustow and Lismore has elected Steve Krieg for another term.
Ms Mulholland said the “glass ceiling has been broken” and believes more women who enter local government would help “achieve balance”.
“If we’ve got four female mayors across the northern rivers congratulations to everybody and that’s extraordinary.”
Ms Mulholland was Kyogle’s first female mayor when the region moved from having a shire president to a shire mayor in the 1990s.
“Since I have come on board we’ve gone from having an eight to one male to female ratio to having a five to four male female ratio, so a lot more young professional women are coming into the sector,” she said.
She said women juggling home life, kids, and their own careers while still serving on council were “impressive”.
Kyogle council are seeking a new general manager – Marcus Schintler will be the acting GM from October 25 until council appoint someone.
Revisiting the sports hub and a review of all council’s committees are on the to-do list while council also aims to restore trust in the community.
Kyogle council are also “agitating” to secure funding for current projects and those in the pipeline.
With a “lot of work to do” Ms Mulholland said everyone is “on the same page” so they can “get cracking”.
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