The race for the Dubbo Regional Council elections has kicked into high gear with two former mayors announcing their intention to run.
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Matthew Dickerson, who was Dubbo mayor from 2011 to 2016, will run in the Central Ward as an independent.
He'll be pitted against Ben Shields, who was mayor up until May this year, and announced Friday morning that he will also run in Central Ward.
At a media conference outside Dubbo Square, Mr Dickerson said he believed experience was needed on the council.
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"It's my belief in the experience that I've had previously as mayor, and certainly a long time on council that integrity that I've displayed over my entire life and those leadership skills that I've shown both on council and in business and in life will be able to come to the fore," Mr Dickerson said.
"If I go back and look at my time on council, we had a very cohesive council, we had a council that was going very well in terms of where it was headed, we had high approval rating in the community - we had a 70 per cent councillor approval rating."
Mr Shields made his announcement on 2DU followed by a Facebook live event at the same time as Mr Dickerson.
"Today I'm announcing I'm seeking election to Dubbo Regional Council. This will be my sixth term as a councillor here in Dubbo," he said. "It's more important than ever to get people on Dubbo Regional Council that have enthusiasm to get things done.
"The last six months have shown that Dubbo has practically come to a stop. We can turn that around if we get good people on Dubbo Regional Council."
Mr Shields is endorsing a number of candidates in each of the wards who have nominated with the NSW Electoral Commission under 'The Ben Shields Team'.
They include current councillors Greg Mohr in the South Ward and Dayne Gumley in the East Ward, Mick Catelotti in the North Ward and Jess Gough in the Wellington Ward.
"When I was mayor we had record state and federal government funding coming into our area," Mr Shields said. "That has effectively dried up.
"My team is about getting Dubbo back on track."
When asked at the start of 2020 about intention to run in the local government elections, Mr Dickerson said he would not.
His change of heart comes more than 18 months later.
"I've reassessed this, I've thought long and hard over the last couple of months and I'm now in a position to go back in," he said. "If you're going to do it you've got to do it 110 per cent, I wasn't ready to do that a year and a half ago."
Mr Dickerson was an outspoken opponent to the Wellington and Dubbo councils amalgamation in 2016. Now, he says "whether you like the amalgamation or not, we've got it".
"We've got to move forward with that and getting the two communities to come together as one community is absolutely integral to the success of Dubbo, to the success of this region."
Mr Shields, meanwhile told 2DU radio that this would be his final "roll of the dice" at becoming the city's mayor.
"That will be up to the councillors of the day, but my logic is if I don't have the numbers why cause a ruckus within the council?" he said.
"I'm running for Dubbo Regional Council to get things back on track, and at this stage the only way I feel I can do that is to become the mayor and get people onto council. The only way I can do that is to put my people up in each one of those wards.
"This is my last roll of the dice definitely for politics, for a higher office. I'll probably continue to be a councillor for a number of years.
"If I don't get into council it's certainly my last roll of the dice politically."
When asked if he had aspirations to become mayor once again, Mr Dickerson said, "if my fellow councillors deem that I'm good enough to stand for mayor again...I have no problems with that".
"First and foremost I've got to be elected to council," he added.
"I can't be mayor without being a councillor so what I'm focusing on now is being elected to council."
Current deputy mayor Anne Jones has nominated as an independent in the Wellington Ward, fellow independent Shibli Chowdhury has nominated in the South Ward and so has Labor candidate Joshua Black.
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