Residents will need to check their enrolment details as Dubbo Regional Council's voting boundaries will be divided into wards which is a system most long-term residents in the local government area (LGA) would not be familiar with.

Our LGA is divided into five wards: Wellington, Dubbo South, Dubbo Central, Dubbo East and Dubbo North. With the ward system residents may only vote for those candidates who have nominated to run in their registered ward.

Candidates are able to nominate in any ward within the Local Government Area, even if they don’t live in that area, but they may only nominate in one ward at the time the nominations close. To check your enrolment go to roll.elections.nsw.gov.au/NSWLookUp/, or call the Electoral Commission on 1300 135 736. The rolls will close on 31 July so make sure you check soon.

For anyone considering running for council in the upcoming election I would encourage them to attend one of the candidate information sessions being held next week. These information sessions are designed to give potential candidates an idea of what is involved in being a councillor.

The election of a new council is a wonderful opportunity for those wishing to represent their community to step forward and nominate as a candidate for Dubbo Regional Council. The sessions are facilitated by the Office of Local Government and will include presentations from Dubbo Regional Council staff.

The sessions will be held on Tuesday 25 July from 5.30pm at the Dubbo Civic Administration Building Conference Rooms, Wednesday 26 July from 9am at the Dubbo Civic Administration Building Conference Rooms and Wednesday 26 July 2017 from 5.30pm at the Wellington Administration Building Chamber.

This is the last week for people to have their say on the concept designs for the Wellington Pool complex. Council has been working alongside the Wellington community with this project in order to deliver the best facility for all residents and the response from the community so far has been fantastic with hundreds taking part in the online poll to vote for the three concept designs.

We have also received some fantastic written submissions on the pool designs with a number of suggestions that have been identified by members of the community being considered and incorporated into the final master plan for the Complex.

I encourage everyone to visit www.dubbo.nsw.gov.au or visit either the Wellington Council building or library before 5pm on Thursday 20 July to view the three concept designs and to have your say.

Congratulations to the Dubbo Youth Council for having their Youth Week Program named as a finalist in three categories for the Local Government Awards. This is the sixth year in a row that Dubbo had been nominated for the Youth Week Awards. The Youth Week Program has been nominated for “Most Innovative Youth Week Program in 2017”, “Best Local Youth Week Program in 2017” and “NSW Health Play Safe Sexual Health Project Award 2017”. The awards will be held in Sydney on August 3.

Last week Dubbo Regional Council farewelled Director Community Services David Dwyer as he retired. David started at Dubbo City Council in 1990 and during his time here achieved much including overseeing the construction and opening of the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre and the Western Plains Cultural Centre. We thank him for all his contributions and wish him well for the future.