With eight fresh faces elected to Orange City Council in December last year, it’s been a steep learning curve for these new kids on the block.

This week, Orange City Life chats with Independent Mel McDonell, who believes that the best days of the current cohort are ahead of these mandatory fast learners.

“It’s been a massive, steep learning curve,” Councillor McDonell said.

“The tricky part is that those new councillors are having to get their heads around how local government operates on the run.”

She said that grassroots democracy has been both more demanding, and more rewarding, than she had expected.

“Possibly yes, in the sense that I always knew it was going to be a lot of work.

“But it also involves so many opportunities to really get involved in issues, and that’s a great positive,” she said.

The surprise, she adds, has not just been the constant nature of the job as a first-time councillor, but also the level of expertise required for which help, however, has been at hand.

“There’s always something that needs attending to. You can ignore it, but you’ve got to come back to it at some point,” Cr McDonell explained.

“There’s a lot more of the financial side you have to get your head around, but there’s been some really good training from Local Government NSW— a speed reading course; planning; chairing a meeting.”

While everyone loves to bash their local council, this, she says, goes with the territory as part of the high degree of accountability expected in local government.

“I think a lot of that stems from Orange in general, we’ve been good, historically, at service delivery and, some in the community, expect perfect roads and footpaths all of the time.

“We provide 75 per cent of the infrastructure to communities, but are given less than one percent of Federal tax revenue, what we are expected to deliver is huge, it happens all too frequently,” she added.

The proximity to the voters, she believes, is another reason why Local Government is the subject of so much negative feedback in local media.

“I think it’s because we're the closest level of government to people’s lives, they feel they can comment.

“Therefore, it’s natural we’re the ones copping those ‘Thumbs Downs’ for the state of the roads, the footpaths,” she added.

Cr McDonell said that the new Council, whose election was delayed for more than 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has had to grapple straight-up with a number of major policy papers, while bedding in an almost record number of new councillors. 

“One of the challenges is the number of big-ticket items we’ve faced. 

“The Community Strategic Plan and Operational Plan, for starters, have been big issues.”

With the projected $25 million construction bill for the new sports stadium at Bloomfield already jumping $10 million, budget increases for major capital works loom large on the horizon, she believes.

“The biggest issue is blowing out of costs on construction and accountability; we’ve got the stadium, the Southern Feeder Road, and the conservatorium/planetarium.

“These are all multi-million dollar facilities that we need to do properly, but they’re all blowing out; costs are going through the roof,” she said.

The other major issue, she believes, is one that almost all regions of Australia and levels of government are grappling with.

“A very close second is the housing crisis we have at the moment, that is affecting everyone.

“We’re always talking about ways of boosting the ‘new economy’, but where are they going to live?”

The new councillors, she says, are now hitting their straps with their best days ahead, but time is short for a Council term that will run for less than three years.

“There’s a few other things simmering along behind the scenes… but this is a very short term as Council.

“We’re under the pump to do as much as we can in a short time,” she said. 

Cr McDonell says that her first term however, has given her an appetite for more, and she’s looking forward to putting her hand up for the next council elections in September 2024.

“Definitely, I’ve got a taste for it now.”