Cessnock City Council will welcome a new general manager next month following a successful recruitment process. Ken Liddell will take up the role on September 5 after seven years as City of Newcastle director of infrastructure and property. He has also served as acting general manager.
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This appointment was made by the elected council and Mr Liddell's extensive experience in local government, with his engineering qualifications and a solid history delivering large scale works and infrastructure, will serve to deliver community priorities.
Mr Liddell will join the council during a time at which it faces enormous challenges. This year's flood events, in March and July, have devastated our road networks and infrastructure. We have seen roads washed away entirely and the scale of the devastation is staggering. We face a huge task as we work towards recovering from these natural disasters.
Council is working with both state and federal governments seeking support to undertake the enormous scope of works required to repair our road networks.
The floods have impacted many in our community. About 300 people have attended several Recovery Assistance Points which were operated by Cessnock City Council with Resilience NSW and held in locations across the local government area. They were staffed by government and non-government agencies to offer advice regarding financial assistance, accommodation, help with replacing lost documents, mental health and wellbeing services.
Council is still offering free dumping of flood-related waste at the Cessnock Waste Management Centre for people who have been impacted by the floods. If you live in an eligible area, check the Council website for details. There is also additional support available through State and Federal Governments, details about various grants and programs are also on the website.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank council staff for their response in the days following the flood. Once the water receded, Council crews worked tirelessly to conduct emergency repairs to open up roads to communities which had been cut-off for many days. Council staff were also involved in identifying elderly residents who were subsequently airlifted off their property after being isolated for more than one week.
I would also like to thank the agencies that worked alongside the Council to respond to this emergency, including the SES, RFS, VRA, Resilience NSW and the NSW Police, as well as members of the community who looked after their neighbours and one another.
