No stranger to local government, newly elected Mayor of Uralla Shire Council, Isabel Strutt, is looking forward to the challenges of leading Uralla into a prosperous and sustainable future.
Delightful and unassuming, the diminutive Isabel Strutt exudes confidence and a passion for her local community. A councillor for the last seven years and a stint as Deputy Mayor is an enviable resume and a platform for strong leadership.
Born in Queensland and growing up on a number of family properties, as a young adult Isabel worked in Roma for some years before making the move to the big smoke of Brisbane in the seventies. With her husband, she moved back to Roma where they owned a record store for a number of years and later they both served as Salvation Army Officers, which is how Isabel came to move to Uralla in 1995.
“The Salvation Army at that time had mandatory retirement and, when the male officer reached 65, then, if it was an officer couple, you both retired,” said Mrs Strutt.
“Our daughter had three years of high school to finish, which we did not want to disrupt, and so we stayed for those three years – we are still here!”
Like many people who have found their way onto council, Isabel was concerned about the discontent within the community about a decision by the council of the day.
“I was reading the comments and getting a bit heated about it. I had an opportunity to nominate for Council rather than just talking about how I feel, so I thought I should get in there and be useful,” said Mrs Strutt.
2004 was the beginning of Isabel’s career as a councilor and now, in 2011 as elected Mayor of Uralla, she is looking forward to helping shape her community.
“The role of being the Mayor is not to get on there and achieve things that you personally want to do,” said Mrs Strutt.
“The responsibility is good governance and provision of services to your local shire, but also I see that as much wider.
“We are not a council in isolation, we are an autonomous part of the whole local government sector.
“I want to continue having this council as proactive for its community.
“The Vision Statement for Uralla Shire Council is a shire where people choose to come to live because there is good quality to the living, there is employment opportunity and lifestyle.
“We are very proactive is relation to the environment and sustainability and have had a number of projects that council has developed along those lines.
“Council has done a good deal to lessen its own carbon footprint – consideration of vehicle purchases, solar panels on council buildings and supporting other projects like the Hi-Cub team.
“There has also been a huge amount of work done at our waste depot so that we have extremely good management at our waste depot; and also, over the last few years, the recycling volume has increased due to the education program council and staff have conducted within the community.
“What I want to see is that this council work as a team, which it does, maintaining that team ownership of council, providing really good governance, high quality services and provision of the services, but also as working as a very responsible, vibrant part of the whole of local government.
“We have a great opportunity of attracting residential development. We are very close to the Evocities of Armidale and Tamworth.
“The lifestyle here is good, travel is good, we have a good and reliable water supply and great climate, everything that will attract people to live here.
“They are still very close to the high quality education facilities in Armidale, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane and only two to three hours’ drive from the coast.
Isabel has found the first few weeks as mayor to be busy but extremely rewarding. Prior to The Armidale Independent catching up with the new mayor, she had taken part in the UNE Spring Graduation and was about to be a guest of the Uralla CWA at a fundraiser and an exhibition opening of Bundarra artist Bobbette Kellett’s work at Uralla Library.
Story: Jo Harrison
