Meet Lismore’s new mayor Vanessa Ekins

Even if she’s only our mayor for a few months, Vanessa Ekins plans to make a difference. We talked to her about her background and what she hopes to achieve.

Lismore's new mayor Vanessa Ekins.

Vanessa Ekins may only be the Lismore mayor for the few months leading up to the September elections, but she is determined to make a difference.

Despite a "difficult" few months for Lismore City Council, that saw a mayor resign and the general manager sacked, Cr Ekins was upbeat about the council's future.

 

NEW BROOMS: Lismore City Council's new mayor Vanessa Ekins introduced interim general manager Michael Donnelly outside the council offices on Wednesday February 10, 2021. Photo: Alison Paterson

She said it was a real honour to be elected after five councillors put their hands up to take on the role when mayor Isaac Smith resigned in February.

"It was a surprise to us all," she said.

"We just assumed the deputy would take over the role, but the Office of Local Government said we had to elect someone."

So who is the new mayor?

Cr Ekins was a single mum when she first became a councillor 17 years ago after an issue impacting her street sparked her interest in local government.

"I went up to watch a council meeting, and sat in the public gallery - it was so exciting and interesting," she said.

"I studied planning and economics at university, so I am genuinely interested in planning matters.

"I started coming to all the meetings and just got totally hooked.

"I recommend anyone come up to the chamber on the second Tuesday of every month and see local government in action and the variety of issues we deal with."

Cr Vanessa Ekins debating an issue in the Lismore council chambers.

Cr Ekins is a high school teacher, who was working casually to fit around her role as a councillor, but has withdrawn her availability to teach so she could focus on the role of mayor.

"I think it is a full-time role," she said, describing the many hours required to conduct site visits, return phone calls and emails, sit on committees, attend briefings and read background documents.

She said it had been a "pretty difficult term" for councillors who have had to deal with the ongoing impact of flooding caused by ex-Cyclone Debbie as well as the Black Summer fires.

Cr Ekins said the council was still dealing with the fallout from the 2017 flood disaster.

"It was really difficult for people and also really expensive - the council is still wearing the cost of that to a large extent," she said.

The council clean-up of rubbish from the flood was equivalent to half the council's usual annual rubbish total and quickly filled the tip.

 

Mountains of rubbish in Lismore after the 2017 flood event.

 

Cr Ekins said that raised her concerns about waste management and a strategy to deal with waste was high on her list of priorities while she is mayor.

She said past surveys had led to green compost bins being introduced in the community and she hoped more conversation could lead to more revolutionary ideas about waste management.

"The conversation we are having with other councils around us, is should we all deal with our own waste recycling and composting, or should we specialise," she said.

Lismore is already very good at recycling, and the mayor suggested by each council specialising in one area of waste management, more options could be pursued - such as cardboard processing to be used to make new boxes, and pelletising plastics to make things like outdoor furniture.

She said other councils had shown an interest in the concept and they were ideas she wanted to investigate.

Housing and was another issue she wanted to address, particularly the lack of affordability for owners and renters and containing urban sprawl.

She said the council heard the community's calls to keep the region rural.

"We want to keep rural areas and farmland for farming," she said.

"More housing needs to be in our existing urban areas and around our villages, so we're not having a lot of sprawl, not taking farmland away, and not putting pressure on our rural roads."

She said the council's role was to identify where that development was best to occur.

Cr Ekins said lack of affordability on the coast was putting pressure on affordability around Lismore and impacting housing availability for both buyers and renters.

"I don't know how we deal with those things, but we need to talk about it," she said.

As for moving forward after a "difficult term", Cr Ekins was adamant councillors could work together.

A file photo of Cr Vanessa Ekins fighting to keep Lismore Lake Pool open. Photo Andy Parks / Northern Rivers Echo

She said most council decisions were unanimous, but some were controversial, but thought that was great, especially when the community became involved in issues that impact them.

"We are all here because we love this place, and the things we love about it, we want to stay," she said.

She said the councillors all had different ways of achieving results, but they were all committed to working together as a council.

As for advice for those looking to run in the September elections, the single mum who became a councillor while studying at university said not to let your circumstances deter you.