At the Dubbo RSL on Wednesday evening, candidates were given two minutes to tell the community who they are, what ward they are running in, their reason for standing and what they have to offer the Dubbo Regional Council.

Mathew Dickerson, Anne Jones, Mathew Smith, Shibli Chowdhury, Matthew Wright, Richard Ivey, Ana Pateman, Karina MacLachlain, Damien Mohon, Joe Knagge, Vicki Etheridge, Helen Swan, Christopher Bailey, Pam Wells, Kevin Parker, Josh Black and Della Burns were candidates who addressed residents.

Rod Fardell was a last minute apology, along with Greg Matthews who had written their responses, which were read out.

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Tatum Moore, Merrilyn Mulchaey, Lewis Burns, Grahame Miller and Lizzy George sent their apologies unable to attend.

However, Peter Allen, Ben Shields, Mick Catelotti, Nathan Ellis, Ann Barnard, Jeremy Ellis, Trina Thornbury, Greg Hough, Greg Mohr, Jess Gough and Mikaela Solomons did not respond to the invitation to attend.

It was later revealed members from the 'Ben Shields Team' were at the Dubbo Ratepayers and Residents Association meeting at the Garden Hotel.

While there were a lack of questions for candidates, following the meeting a number of questions were directed at mayor Stephen Lawrence, regarding the ward system and referendum, which will be held at the election.

"[There will be a] question along the lines of 'do you support abolishing the existing ward system moving to a single LGA that elects 11 councillors?'," he said.

"The reason for the councillors proposing that question, we were very concerned about Wellington representation, and thought if we increased to 11 there was a much better chance of Wellington maintaining two councillors at least, and possible three.

"If you want to abolish ward system you should vote 'yes'."

Cr Lawrence also said the proposal to move to having 11 councillors would abolish the mayor's casting vote power.

"That certainly is not something that appeals to me, in that the mayor shouldn't have that additional power, if you can have an odd number you can avoid that," he said.

Cr Lawrence was also asked why the community weren't given the power to elect a mayor, like Orange City council, but said that was up to the next council to decide.

"In the most immediate sense we have a mayor that's elected by the councillors because of the population following the merger which established the ward system," he said.

"It would be open to the next council to have a referendum on that question would you move to a directly elected mayor so that certainly could happen.

"My personal view, it comes out of my experiences on council, I think a directly-elected mayor can be quite dangerous. I think there's something quite good about the mayor having to have the confidence and support of their colleagues."

It was also addressed under the Local Government Act there was no option to have a Wellington and Dubbo ward system due to the population of the towns.