General News
3 March, 2025
New CEO takes on her role
NEW chief executive officer Dr Nicola Stepanov attended her first Tablelands Regional Council meeting last week and immediately announced a new initiative to ensure council was getting feedback from its key industry sectors.
In the job for nine days, Dr Stepanov said she was already impressed with the spirit and character of the council staff.
“They have made me feel welcomed and valued,” she said.
“I’m really impressed in the spirit and motivation of our people and the strength of character that they are bringing to their roles each day.
“The role of chief executive officer for local government is a position that is one of privilege and an honour to fill.
“Local governments are extremely complex businesses who face ever-increasing financial and operational challenges.
“I’m very humbled to be council’s choice of a person with the right skill set, knowledge and experience to lead our organisation….”
Dr Stepanov said community engagement was an area specifically of interest to her.
“One of the key things that I will be looking to in the future is to make sure we have effective and efficient community engagement and input in our decision making,” she said.
“We want to know what the community prioritises, what they think, and make sure their views are represented in the decisions of council.
“As well as being really key and effective advocates, I do have a very progressive agenda in that regard.”
Dr Stepanov announced she will be introducing regular free public forums in coming weeks for the agriculture, development, business and tourism sectors “so we can better understand how we can utilise the strength of our region and also areas that we, as a council, can improve our services and support to achieve council’s mission.”
Dr Stepanov also advised that she would be providing additional monthly reports to council’s ordinary meetings to ensure the public and the council were up to date with progress on the objectives of the corporate plan and key projects.
