Council Connect: 13 February 2026

Published on 13 February 2026

Hello and welcome to this week's Council Connect. Happy Friday! Councillor Alexandria Carruthers here to give you a quick update on all things Council and what's happening.

Our first Council meeting for 2026 is next Wednesday evening at the Council Chambers. The meetings are open to the public, so if you want to attend, you're more than welcome to sit in the audience. It's also a great way to connect with your Councillors. Everyone is welcome. It starts at 6pm.

Here's a quick update on where we stand with the Clarence Town Flood Study. If you're in Clarence Town and watching this, this one's for you. We'll be hosting a drop-in session tomorrow at the School of Arts Hall, on Saturday, February 14th. There will be one session from 9am to 12pm, and another from 1pm to 3pm These are two chances to come by, give feedback, and chat with some of the Council staff about what the flood study covers. It’s a great chance to ask questions—remember, there’s no such thing as a silly question. The only silly questions are the ones not asked because you don't get the answer. So, I encourage you to come along to this in Clarence Town.

And finally, next week is Dungog's bulky waste pickup. Our annual bulk waste collection is underway. We're doing Dungog next week, so crews will be there to pick up any kerbside pile collections you have. We suggest putting all your items out on Sunday night before your collection week, so they can be collected throughout the week. If you're elsewhere in the Shire and haven't had your collection yet, or if you're unsure about the dates, please contact the Council team. I'll include some contact details below so you can reach out, and we can get it sorted for you. Since it happens once a year, I know bulky waste is a big deal for everyone. It's a big deal for my family too—I like to go through and get rid of everything I no longer need to clean things up. So again, this service is here for you. If anything isn’t quite right, let us know, and we'll resolve it as quickly as possible.

And to wrap things up, we have a few events happening around the Shire this weekend. First, there's the Clarence Town Flood Study exhibition tomorrow at the School of Arts Hall in Clarence Town. There's also a wonderful exhibition currently on at Dungog by Design called ‘In the Frame’. If you have some free time, I recommend checking out that exhibition — it has some really nice artwork. One piece I particularly like shows cows looking over a fence with a little bird sitting on top.

We've also got our social rides at Dungog Common, and the Dungog Local Growers Stalls. These are located next to the CWA rooms on Dowling Street. There's always something great to find at those markets. We enjoy going and picking up honey and other little bits and pieces along the way. We have a beautiful mulberry tree growing out the back that we got from there. I encourage you to go and find some local produce. We also have Wendy Matthews with band coming up at The James Theatre on February 28th. Visit the James Theatre website to get your tickets if Wendy Matthews is your thing.

So that's everything for this week. Again, feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I'll include my contact details below, along with the other contact details for the bulky waste collection so you can contact the council directly.

Have a great weekend and don't get too wet. Bye.