Council puts the call out for volunteers

Three of council's Section 355 committees have vacancies - Paterson School of Arts, Dungog Showground and the James Theatre.

Section 355 committees are responsible for the day-to-day operations of council's community assets such as community halls and sporting facilities.

"Volunteers are the only way council can manage the assets," Dungog's mayor John Connors said.

"Council doesn't have the capacity to personally manage all the sporting fields, community halls and the like throughout the shire. It's the same in most councils.

"To assist councils in doing that, Section 355 of the Local Government Act sets up a provision where committees, with community members and one councillor on them, can be delegated the responsibility and the power to look after and manage certain council assets."

Dungog Council's website says this usually relates to the care and basic maintenance of the facilities, recreation grounds and halls.

Mayor Connors is hopeful that the community will step up and fill these gaps and believes that there is little risk of these positions being left vacant.

He also said that council will be circulating this call for volunteers among the user groups of each facility. He hopes that for facilities with multiple user groups, such as the Dungog Showground, all user groups can be represented on the committee.

He also said that volunteers are a crucial part of the Dungog community.

"Dungog's got a great reputation and a record for people volunteering," Mayor Connors said.

"Service clubs have waned regrettably but there are various other organisations that have taken up that space and the community is still volunteering in many, many ways.

"The whole structure of the Dungog Shire and in most shires only succeeds as a result of the input from volunteers."

Applications for volunteering will close on Tuesday, June 11. For more information visit Dungog Shire Council's website.