Celebrating the Council staff who stood tall in our darkest hours

Published on 02 August 2021

Local Government Week runs from Monday 2 August to Sunday 8 August 2021 and is designed to showcase the work councils around NSW do in their local communities, including the wide variety of services they provide.

Kempsey Shire Council is celebrating Local Government Week by using our various communications channels to highlight the major role Council staff played during the March flood.

These few individual’s stories represent the colossal effort of all staff over the flood period and since that time in the recovery work.

Dan Powick

Like many staff, Dan Powick wore many hats while coordinating Council’s resources during the flood response, monitoring river levels, organising road closures and arranging sandbagging for low lying areas.

“While dropping medical and food supplies to the Hat Head community who were isolated put a big smile on my face, when we were flying over the flood structures to see how they were operating, we witnessed the massive amount of water inundating the flood plain and saw firsthand the destruction and devastation for the community, especially the farmers and the lower Macleay residents – that was tough.”

“Seeing how the works department pulled together to help the community with all they had to offer was fantastic. As they say, until next time, we’ll do it all again.”

Garrick Cahill

As Council’s Maintenance Response Coordinator, Garick’s role during the flooding was to assess roads for flood damage and arrange for crews to carry out emergency repairs.

“Being my first flood event, the state of the roads was nothing like I had seen before. While Council has limited resources to respond to an emergency like this, it was a huge relief when the Australian Defence Force came to assist. They were a great help while they were here.”

Tara Gordon

Tara was based at the Emergency Operations Centre taking on a gate keeping role to ensure that information coming in was recorded correctly and responded to accordingly.

“These were long days beginning at 7am and working throughout the day to work out new allocations for the agencies, before leaving the centre at around 8pm but they flew by, and it was truly amazing to be part of and see so much support for those in need.”

“Finally, I think one of the most stand out moments to me were the numerous thank yous that were received from residents. The relief and sincerity in their voices was so lovely to hear and it really did make it an incredible experience.”

Happy Local Government Week to our community from the staff who work so hard to help.