On Saturday, September 14, Bega Valley residents and ratepayers will vote for eight councillors, and for the first time will vote separately for mayor, a role Cr Helen O'Neil will be running for.
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"I've found being a councillor hard but very rewarding. To step up to be mayor is a very big job, so I had to think about if I was ready for that commitment," she said.
"I had a look at what needs to be done and thought, 'Yes, I can make a contribution, I can remain committed to listening to people, and do my absolute best on their behalf.' So I put in my name."
Cr O'Neil said Bega Valley Shire needed new councillors with a better range of skills and community connections to help council set the right priorities for the future.
"I am a first term councillor and it has been a real time of learning, of getting things started, but unless you stay in there, how can you get change to really be seen on the ground?" she said.
"So I am looking forward to talking with as many people as possible in the next couple of months explaining the change we need, how we can do it, and how they can be part of the change."
![Councillor Helen O'Neil. Picture supplied Councillor Helen O'Neil. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/6b796650-b5fb-42b0-8dd6-1e8d0fc20efc.png/r30_0_1327_730_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Cr O'Neill said the change required was pretty clear, and centred on ensuring its priorities, spending and people were all focused on council's prime concerns.
"The housing crisis is first up, and we're about a quarter of the way through implementing an affordable housing strategy," she said.
"Some of it's easy, a lot of it is hard, and we've got to see that through and make sure that the planning system, DA approvals are kept to as quick as possible.
"Next is the energy transition, we all know it's happening, we know that the big power companies are pleading with communities like ours to get the micro-grids going, generate their own power into the grid," Cr O'Neill aid.
"The roads, we all know the problems that have arisen in the past few years of disasters, and we're just beginning to catch up and the real effort's got to go into not just patching, but actually building it back, and there will be less work in rebuilding.
![Councillor O'Neil said community and transparency were of the utmost importance. File picture Councillor O'Neil said community and transparency were of the utmost importance. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/205490442/8080aa78-3ef3-47f6-950c-1d81a3d41651.jpeg/r0_376_4032_2643_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"While I've been on the air, the staff have put forward these big rates increases, it's been really hard, I've sort of said we have to do it because otherwise major service cuts would be involved.
"But I don't think we should ever have a Special Rate Variation like the type we've had.," she said.
Alongside Cr O'Neil, the candidates running for Labor are Pambula Beach-based business project manager, Simon Daly, Tathra-based clean energy consultant and master of business, David Neyle, and experienced accountant and business manager, Nicola Collins.
Cr O'Neill said each member of the ALP team had specific knowledge, experience, skills and connections that would lift the quality of council debate and improve scrutiny of the complex problems that local government faced.