Councillor Darryl Goodwin first joined Lithgow City Council in April 2017 and the public re-elected him for another term, something he is very grateful for.
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"I'm so happy the town wanted to vote for Deanna and myself, we had a really good team in the background who were integral to helping us," he said.
"We will make sure we do our absolute best and despite Deanna and I having our own views and biases, we try to do good for Lithgow and good for everyone."
This term Cr Goodwin will have jobs on his mind.
"We need sustainable, skilled employment, and I've been chatting with different CEO's who want to bring business to Lithgow, we just have to be flexible as a council to bring them here," he said.
"We are losing skilled labour in town with the downturn in mining, we are losing families, and while we may be getting families in, I don't know if that is offsetting the amount we are losing."
Cr Goodwin wants to see large scale businesses come to town that will bring more families who may work in other businesses, offering more jobs in town.
He said he can see big things happening with Wallerawang's GREENSpot, The Foundations at Portland and around the Lithgow area.
"With the upgrade of the Great Western Highway, however they do it, will be a good thing for the town whether that is the 80 or 100 kilometres but the dual lane will be an advantage for people," he said.
"The Gardens of Stone transformation will also be a big injection boost and the re-opening of the Zig Zag Railway, they are all big things happening in town."
Cr Goodwin said he can see a "vibe" in town at the moment and if the council doesn't run with it they are going to lose it.
"The Blue Mountains is built out, people are coming West and we are at the base with a great hospital, train line, upgraded roads, it only takes an hour and forty minutes to get to Paramatta, and we are close to Sydney, we are just getting bigger and better," he said.
"We need to plan for all of this now though, we need to see Lithgow grow and we need to be above everything."
Cr Goodwin said he can see this happening as long as the council is "flexible and not rigid".
He explained the wheels turn slowly in council and he struggles with that as much as the residents do.
"I struggle to not have things done straight away, in my job [as a police sergeant] we are fixers, we get things done straight away, so sitting back and seeing something take two years to get done frustrates me," he said.
"I feel like we need to do it straight away and while I know our budget is extremely tight, for rates base and jobs, we need to look at what grants are available."
Cr Goodwin said the council needs to offer what a great place Lithgow is.
"People know of Lithgow, they know it is cold and a mining town but we are more than that," he said.
Cr Goodwin has had people visit Lithgow from England, Sweden and America and they have all told him how spectacular sites such as Hassans Walls or the Wolgan Valley is.
We live in the best part of the world, so we have to show it off.
- Cr Darryl Goodwin
"We have so much heritage with Aboriginal heritage, the cement works, our firearm history, we are a big industrial town so we need more industry jobs to come our way."
Cr Goodwin said there will be big decisions to make in the next two years that might divide the community.
"None of it is done with bad intentions, we all just have different ideas and points of view and we have to respect those, councillors have to respect one another and so do residents," he said.
One particular example that comes to Cr Goodwin's mind was the waste to incinerator plan.
"It would be silly to not at least consider it, if they comply with all the State, Federal and Local compliances and would bring over 1000 jobs to the community, why shouldn't we consider it?" he said.
Cr Goodwin said while they can't do things for everyone, it was a councillor's job to advocate for the community and its people on important matters.
"I can only see good things if we continue to get our name out there," he said.
"We need to be flexible, if people have issues, contact council and if you don't get anywhere contact a councillor you know or can get in contact with to try and help you."
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