23 April 2024, Mayor Cr Liesbeth Long - Maryborough Advertiser
Published on 22 August 2023
Since becoming Mayor five months ago, the one question that I’m asked time and time again is “What’s it like to be Mayor?”
Well, it’s busy, really busy! I can honestly say I’ve never worked so hard in all my life to keep up with everything.
The number of meetings I attend is eye watering, with the last verbal exchange my husband and I have each morning before starting our day is, “Will you be home tonight?”
Meetings range from weekly four-hour Councillor briefings, high level advocacy - such as the Loddon Campaspe Group of Councils and the Greater Ballarat Alliance of Councils, whereby Mayors and CEOs from fifteen different councils meet, to the smallest of community groups and organisations Shire-wide.
Emails and phone calls are constant, especially during the week. On weekends the emails stop, but then social engagements are on instead, ranging from Art Gallery exhibition openings to sport presentation nights and everything in between. Then there is media – monthly columns to The Addy, The Welcome Record and The Carisbrook Mercury, radio and TV interviews, as well as regular social media, which I try to post relevant content to.
You might think I’m having a bit of a whinge, a ‘woe is me’? Well nothing could be further from the truth.
It is such a privilege for me to have been entrusted with this position. I thank my lucky stars every day for the opportunity to meet and interact with such great people. I attend functions and experiences that never in my wildest dreams thought I ever would - such as the private tour of Government House with our passionate Youth Council; Australia Day, where I officiated over the Citizenship Ceremony; ANZAC Day this week, where I will be MC - and countless more, all special in their own way.
I am proud to be a servant leader, first amongst equals. I’ve never thought of myself as any better or any worse than anyone else in this world. Being the Mayor has not changed that one bit.
Mayor Cr Liesbeth Long
Flynn Ward