The conference will be held in Albury in October. It’s a chance for councillors from across the state to come together and discuss and debate local government issues.

Councillors Vicki Etheridge, John Ryan, Kevin Parker and Stephen Lawrence will be Dubbo’s voting representatives. As a member of the board of LGNSW, mayor Ben Shields is also given a vote on the issues.

Councillor Greg Mohr has been chosen as the alternate.

The Dubbo councillors will be calling for support to make changes to the ward system at the conference.

As it currently stands under the Local Government Act, wards must contain the same number of people. However, Dubbo Regional Council wants to establish two wards, one for Wellington and another for Dubbo, which would ensure a balanced representation on council.

If the wards were to be abolished instead of altered it would need to be done via referendum, which would most likely be held at the next local government election in 2020 at a cost of $35,000.