Michael Pearce has served the community his entire working life.
He joined the NSW Police Force in 1979 and worked for 30 years until he retired and was elected to the Uralla Shire Council eight years ago.
For Uralla, he worked as a councillor, then as deputy mayor and finally, for the past four years, as mayor.
It’s a legacy he hopes to continue following next month's election and he believes his experience, contacts, and stamina make him the best man for the job.
“To me, it's a laydown misere,” he said.
“For the shire to continue to grow and prosper, it’s important to maintain stability and more importantly, continuity and the leadership within Council.
“I believe that I am the most experienced candidate to continue in the role as mayor.
Mr Pearce listed road infrastructure, tourism, the visitors information centre, and establishing a formal business chamber as priorities if he was re-elected.
“Road infrastructure is always going to be key to this area and we need to maintain that at an appropriate level,” he said.
“That includes funding from our state and federal members.
“I would work towards getting a tourism strategy onboard.
“The tourism strategy would go hand in hand with attracting business.”
Creating a new community development officer position within Council is one of the strategies Mr Pearce has for tourism development.
“To have a tourism strategy, you need to have a good person in place to speak to the business owners and find out what they need.
Mr Pearce believes a hall is needed at Invergowrie and a place for Bundarra residents to withdraw money is also required.
“Just about every little town in Australian has some sort of memorial hall where Invergowrie, which has about 1000 people living out there, doesn’t,” he said.
The Uralla Shire Council has remained a stand-alone council after the state government's recent forced amalgamations.
Mr Pearce was proud to have led the shire through this time but said Council would need to remain vigilant to prevent future threats.
“I have led council and our community through the threat of mergers and amalgamation from both the state and the former Armidale Dumaresq Council,” he said.
“It’s like a pimple, you might put some Clearasil on it one day and it goes away, but if you do the wrong things it's going to come back.”
“No doubt, in the near future, it's going to come back.
“As a policeman, one of my biggest tools was communication. I believe i have the people skills and the most experience, and I am keen to get back in.
