History will decide whether George Greiss was one of the great mayors of Campbelltown.
His three years in the top job will soon come to an end, following his announcement last Friday – in the presence of Premier Chris Minns – that he would not be a candidate at the next NSW council elections in September.
Putting history to one side, Cr Greiss has grown into the job, just like most mayors.
As someone who has closely followed Mayor Greiss since he assumed the position in 2022, I can say that to some extent George Greiss, who has represented the Liberal Party on Campbelltown Council since 2008, was a bit of an unknown quantity.
It was obvious at first that Cr Greiss needed to get out and about more if he wished to become the people’s mayor.
Intellectually and academically he’s a powerhouse and without peer in the current council.
The result is that he has introduced reforms that will hold Campbelltown Council in good stead for many years to come.
That’s not a bad legacy, for starters.
His term does not end until just before the council elections, and he has promised to “continue to serve as mayor of Campbelltown without fear or favour to the very last minute’’.
But it’s fair to say he would have achieved much more had he stayed on for another term.
Which means that Campbelltown will have a new mayor in September, and who that will be is anybody’s guess.
In the meantime, we’d like to say, thank you, goodbye and good luck, Mayor Greiss.
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One of his reforms, having the Australian national anthem sung before the start of every council meeting got its first workout in late March.
Everyone present was singing along with gusto, so will give that a big tick, too.
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Former -way, way former – councillor Frank Ward, received a card from Prime Minister Athony Albanese, wishing him all the best for his 95th birthday.
“I had a wonderful surprise in the mail with a birthday greeting from the PM,’’ Frank posted on his social media.
All the best from us, and as one of our most loyal readers, if not the most loyal, we hope Frank has quite a few more years in him.
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Speaking of loyal readers, former mayor Aaron Rule is also right up there with the best of them.
“I read the South West Voice every day, it’s so good someone is still keeping us informed here in Campbelltown,’’ he said when we saw him recently.
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The Campbelltown Hospital auxiliary legends – also known as volunteers – celebrated 70 years of service with a garden party last week at member Wendy’s Kentlyn residence.
Pictured (below) with her is auxiliary president Sigrid Hawker and Grant Isedale, the general manager of Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals.
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Another notable milestone coming up in August is the 50th year of Wests Leagues club at Leumeah.
The premises in 1978 when we started visiting the club were a lot smaller than they are now, as was the case with all the registered clubs in Campbelltown.
No doubt a lot of the 50 year history will be contained in a book commissioned by Wests Group Macarthur to mark the occasion.
Looking forward to the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Wests Leagues Club at the end of August
So proud , as a foundation Board Member with membership number 5 as my number, that the club has developed into an amazing community club playing a major part in the development of all sports in our community making a real difference to the society in many ways .