MAYORAL MATTERS | JASON HAMLING says Orange's streets are bustling, businesses thriving thanks to city's busy calander

In my first couple of months in the job as mayor it's been rewarding to lead our new eight councillors and help them to realise how to bring their own diversity to the table of 12 elected representatives.

We've already had three full council meetings and numerous briefing sessions and the new councillors have taken to their new role within Community Committees, public engagements and representing Orange. I'm pleased that there is a positive, can-do attitude and a feeling of anticipation for what we can achieve in our term.

The Annual Local Government conference in Sydney was a great introduction for the new term and a much-awaited return to face-to-face conferences with seven of us representing Orange.

It was good to be able to network and discuss what other Local Government Areas are doing, especially in the indoor recreation space and start to gather ideas for what we can create in Orange.

During the election, my team and I heard loud and clear from young families, especially the mums, about a lack of indoor play facilities, and all-weather recreation areas.

During our extensive community consultation around our Community Strategic Plan, this was again high on the agenda.

Council is now working with consultants to dive deeper into whether this sentiment is reflected in what visitors to the city would also like to see, and the feedback from surveys and statistics show us families are third on the list of tourist groups visiting our city.

So this means it's my priority to have a new option or two in place by this winter! At the next council meeting I am tabling a Mayoral Minute to investigate a temporary indoor playground option for this coming year, as well as working on a more permanent solution for future years.

The Regional Sporting Precinct has finally received unanimous approval from the Western Region Planning Panel.

This means that work should start early next month with the remaining tree removal, and then construction of the eight multi-use sporting fields first, followed by the athletics track and grandstand. We'll then move on to complete the rectangular field and stadium.

The Local Housing Strategy which was on public exhibition earlier this year prompted quite a few submissions, in regards to where our housing will be developed in the next 20 years.

Between now and May, we will be looking at the submissions before returning to Council for adoption.

I had the pleasure of meeting with a delegation of students from James Sheahan Catholic High School to discuss a proposal to hold a Youth Summit with representatives from all high schools in Orange later in the year. What a great way to get younger people involved in the direction of our city!

Over the last month I attended numerous events including the Gnoo Blas Car Show, the Golden Eagle Bowls tournament and the Super League netball between the Sydney Giants and the Adelaide Thunderbirds.

It's these gatherings of our community and visitors that make me so proud to be Mayor; when you see all generations enjoying sport, music, cars and culture, with our main street bustling and businesses thriving because of these events it's really positive and inspiring.

And there's more to come! The World Jousting Championships and Medieval Faire, FOOD Week and The Great Volcanic Mountain Challenge to name a few and I'm finally going to get to see Anh Do in the Civic Theatre soon, after his show has been rescheduled about five times during the last two years!

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