New mayor George Greiss sets out his vision for our town

George Greiss is the 28^th mayor of Campbelltown since it amalgamated with Ingleburn to form one council in 1948.

How do we know that? Mayor Greiss informed the council last night at the first meeting he has chaired since he won the ballot for the city’s top job on January 11.

He did this in a mayoral minute, which was titled: Thoughts, Aspirations and Highlights.

“I intend to use my Mayoral Minutes to keep you informed of our progress, breakthroughs and setbacks,’’ he said.

“Ours is a shared journey, and as I have said publicly, I am committed 100 per cent to transparent decision-making and to providing everyone with all of the available information so as to help people make their own informed decisions and evaluate the decisions of others.’’

“As my first order of business as Mayor, I had requested a meeting with each Minister and Shadow Minister in State Government, and with our local MPs, to explore opportunities jointly for Campbelltown; and some meetings have already taken place, and I look forward to giving you an update on the outcome of all these discussions in the near future,’’ he said.

The Liberal Party Mayor, the first since 2015, also revealed he had asked the council general manager to undertake an urgent review of public space infrastructure, to ensure they are always well maintained, and develop a plan for a continuous city beautification program for cleaning and maintaining such assets “for the enjoyment of all our residents’’.

At 2,294 words the mayoral minute was long, but worthy in that it heralded a new era of thoughtful, inclusive leadership in Campbelltown.

Mayor Greiss is determined that from now on it will be a Team Campbelltown approach, with accountability and transparency at the core – and the Mayoral Minute platform will be a big part of that.

Here are some tidbits included in the first mayoral minute by Mayor Greiss:

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that as of 2021 Campbelltown had an estimated resident population of about 175,000 people, with an average age at a relatively youthful 36 years, and a significant number being couples with dependent children.
• Campbelltown’s open space areas include 1,189 hectares of protected national park (equivalent to roughly 2,400 football fields), and 379 identified open space areas equating to 1,400 hectares, including active sports grounds through to passive bushlands, parks and fully inclusive play spaces that all of our community can enjoy.