Bathurst City Council and Evans Shire Council were dissolved on 26 May 2004 and the Bathurst Regional Council was created. As part of the proclamation an Administrator was appointed to oversee the initial period of the amalgamation process. On Saturday 5 March 2005 the first election of councillors for Bathurst Regional Council was held resulting in the election of nine (9) councillors as listed in alphabetical order.

Councillor Bobby Bourke
Councillor John Byrne
Councillor Gordon Crisp
Councillor Paul Haysom
Councillor Kath Knowles
Councillor Norm Mann
Councillor Janice McGilchrist
Councillor Ian North
Councillor Paul Toole

Council Elections

The Returning Officer for the election of the new Bathurst Regional Council at 12 pm on Friday 11 March 2005 officially declared the election of the new nine members of the Bathurst Regional Council.

The new Council met for the first time on Wednesday 16 March at 7pm in the Council Chamber to elect the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Councillor Norm Mann was elected Mayor and Councillor Paul Toole was elected Deputy Mayor.

Amalgamation Update

Bathurst Regional Council covered most of the big issues about what the Amalgamation process meant to residents in the six issues of Amalgamation Update that were delivered to ratepayers.

The six newsletters produced are available here:

Amalgamation Update No 1
Amalgamation Update No 2
Amalgamation Update No 3
Amalgamation Update No 4
Amalgamation Update No 5
Amalgamation Update No 6

Former Mission Statements

The mission statements of the previous Councils were:

Bathurst City Council
The equitable development and maintenance of services provided for the general health and well-being of the citizens of Bathurst and the adjustment of these services to meet the changing needs with adequate facilities providing for 50,000 by the year 2015.

Evans Shire Council
To be a respected, approachable organisation committed to;
- responsible economic management
- excellence in the provision of quality services
- sustainable environmental, planning and development policies which maintain and improve existing industries and encourage new enterprises.