Growing the trust between council and community is front and centre for freshly elected Narromine Mayor Ewen Jones. 

Cr Jones said the path forward involves encouraging transparency between council and residents.

"We want everybody to see what we are doing. We invite people to sit in the public gallery at the council meeting so they hear what's discussed."

Council meetings in Trangie and Tomingley could even be on the books for the first time since the mandatory recording of council meetings came into force. 

"I'd love to have a council meeting at least once a year at one of these locations." 

Cr Jones said he is confident that all nine elected councillor will together for the best possible outcome for the whole shire.

Cr Jones has nearly three years of experience already under his belt as a councillor and worked for almost three decades as council staff. 

"I've done all kinds of jobs from patching roads to working at the fluids and water plants to looking after the aerodrome." 

Cr Jones also served 32 years as a firefighter before hanging up his helmet last year. 

One of the top priorities for Cr Jones is to rezone the Craigie-Lea property from an E5 heavy industrial back to an E4 to alleviate locals concerns about the environmental impact of a heavy industrial zone. 

 Cr Jones said the community was not impressed with plans to turn the Craigie-Lea property into a heavy industrial zone. Photo: Narromine Shire Council Business Paper August 2022

"The last council passed a recommendation to rezone the property from an RU1 which is farmland to E5 which is heavy industrial. The community was quite clear, they were very against that," Cr Jones said.

He said the $9 million grant from the NSW government the Narromine council received can only be used for infrastructure at Craigie Lea including water, electricity, and sewer.

This includes a new water main that would be run out to “Craigie-Lea”. The water would be non-potable water, meaning a water treatment plant would need to be built at Craigie-Lea.

An important message he had for councillors was, "Make your own decisions and base your actions on the facts in front of us.

"We have nine different personalities on there and my aim is for as much harmony as possible."