“Every day I want to work to make you proud of me,” she told a packed room at the Coffs Harbour Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast, held at C.ex Coffs.

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Cr Williams stressed the importance of community involvement.

“Everything Council does comes from the Community Strategic Plan.

“Our job is to do what the community wants – we need everyone to make submissions when surveys go to consultation.

“The value of submissions is so important; that’s how you make a difference.”

With strategic planning about to begin on its Delivery Program for 2026-2030, Cr Williams explained how Council needs to consider the long-term before implementing any change.

“Where we’re most effective is to create overarching strategies for how our city will work.”

“You can’t please all of the people all of the time. That’s the hardest bit of my job – saying ‘no’.

“There are times we don’t have the funds and the resources, but it’s how we say it. [Making] people feel heard is important.”

Cr Williams spoke of an elderly man she met during her campaign, who was distressed about an issue with his rates.

“The first thing I did when I walked into my office was call him.

“We investigated his issue, and it turned out Council was wrong, and he was right; we changed someone’s day because we listened.”

Within the Council’s offices, the new mayor is promoting teamwork and collaboration and instilling her own business ethic of “do less and do it better”.

Resilience and always pushing for excellence are her strengths.

In 2011, she was a young mum with baby triplets who had left their father.

Her own father had died and she was 500kms away from close family.

She thought, “no-one is coming to save me,” and learnt to pivot to fix each challenge.

Cr Williams appealed to Chamber members to imagine life “post-bypass” and to embrace investment.

“Investors need to feel confident in our city.

“We want to open the door and say, ‘how can I help you?’.”

Cr Williams has re-joined the NSW Country Mayors’ Association (CMA) and will work alongside the mayors of Bellingen Shire, Nambucca Valley, Kempsey and Port Macquarie-Hastings on key issues such as housing and waste management.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garth Shipperlee, told News Of The Area that it was great to kick off the new year with a sold-out breakfast.

He felt the mayor “led with heart and soul”.

“There was such an engaging and positive vibe throughout the room that after a challenging few years we can say, ‘Coffs is Back and We’re Open for Business’.”

By Andrea FERRARI