The heads of the committees were elected on Monday night.

First-time councillor Stephen Lawrence will chair the Planning Development and Environment Committee, as well as the Infrastructure, Community and Recreation Committee.

Councillor Greg Mohr will lead the Economic Development, Business and Corporate Committee.

Cr Lawrence said he was humbled to be elected unopposed to the positions.

“I put my hand up because I thought it would be a positive thing and I want to be as involved in the work with council as I can be, and I believe I have some skills from my legal background that I could bring to the role of chairperson,” he said.

The councillor said it was a steep learning curve being on council and he did feel like a “fish out of water”. He had been nervous chairing his first meeting Monday night, he said.

However, Cr Lawrence said he was glad Cr Mohr would be by his side.

“We’re different kinds of fellas but we work well together and I’m pretty happy I’ll have his assistance going forward in the role as chairperson,” he said.

Cr Mohr said he had wanted to lead a committee during his last term on council but missed out. This time he was elected unopposed. 

In part the finance committee was of interest to him as it contained the decisions relating to the Dubbo City Regional Airport, he said. Cr Mohr said he was also chair of the airport committee.

As chairperson Cr Mohr said his responsibilities included leading the committee meetings and ensuring they ran smoothly, as well as being the spokesperson for the issues under his umbrella, and being the point of contact for council staff.

While the decisions made so far had mostly been procedural, Cr Mohr said he encouraged debate among his fellow councillors when contentious issues emerged.

The first ordinary meeting of the new Dubbo Regional Council under mayor Ben Shields will be held Monday evening.