When Roger Smith started as a gardener in Cook Park, little did he know the NSW Premier would be personally congratulating him on a job well done 29 years later.
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Mr Smith is Natural Resources Coordinator at Orange City Council and has led the delivery of the $1.3 million Lake Canobolas upgrade project.
He will retire from council on February 2 after a near three decade career.
Premier Chris Minns was in Orange on Tuesday (January 23) to inspect work at the lake and presented a certificate of appreciation to Mr Smith, something he described as "awesome".
"That was absolutely amazing," he said.
"I'm just absolutely gobsmacked. My wife's a staunch Labor supporter so she would have loved to have been here.
"But it was awesome."
He was placed in charge of the Lake Canobolas upgrade which includes making the two beaches more accessible, the adventure playground, a wheelchair-accessible floating boardwalk and accessible pathways amongst other installations.
Mr Smith said improving a space highly-valued by the community was a highlight of his time in the job.
"This is a highlight, no doubt at all," he said.
"Lake Canobolas is one of the areas that I actually manage and when we got the funding to implement all these projects they said, 'you run it Roger' and I've been doing this for the last probably seven or eight months and it's been absolutely fantastic.
"We had good support from the council staff and my staff behind this, but also from the council hierarchy as well.
"We've actually improved the two beach areas with the retaining walls. We've replenished the sand, put new turf on those beach areas as well and put in irrigation.
"We've put in almost 1.2 kilometres of accessible pathways on both sides of the lake, they are 1.2 m wide so they're really easy for people in wheelchairs or in prams. That's been another good thing.
"We've had so much positive feedback we really have from the people who use the lake. It's been wonderful."
Mr Smith said he hoped he'd be remembered as someone who made a difference in the lives of ratepayers.
"Orange Council has some really excellent people, both outdoor staff and indoor staff and those people work for the ratepayers of Orange," he said.
"That is my kind of legacy I suppose because I've always tried to make a difference and I've always tried to do the right thing by the ratepayers."
