But after his mother in law, councillor Daphne Field, suggested he put his hand up, Mr Sampson thought he might just have something to offer the shire.

“I was encouraged [to enrol] by Daphne,” he said.

“She has definitely given me some pointers and made it known that I need to be ready to listen and learn.”

Mr Sampson has lived in the region for 3 years.

He works at the Telstra Shop in Armidale, is on the Z-net committee and says he has often thought about going into politics.

“It will be a big learning curve for me,” he said.

“But I’m good at listening to people, and problem resolution.

“Being in the retail industry, it’s sort of like of my job [sic].

“So I think being a councillor is really just listening to the people and coming up with solutions to problems.”

Road maintenance, particularly in the out of town areas is important to Mr Sampson.

As is working towards sustainable living.

“I'm particularly interested in sustainable development,” he said.

“And new forms of energy efficiency.

“The increasing technologies with like solar panels and wind farms [sic].”

Mr Sampson also wants to create more community events and believes Council needs to focus on education.

“Looking at things in different ways and having discussions about it will help us come up with new ideas,” he said.

“I think it’s essentially about not coming in and doing big things but moving towards better things.

A better use of social media and apps is something Mr Sampson thinks Council could look at.

“Most of the councillors are a little bit older than I am, which isn’t a bad thing, but it can be good to have two ends of the spectrum.”

Mr Sampson said he had many attributes that would make him a good councillor, but most importantly, he was approachable and a good listener.

“I’m pretty approachable … it doesn't matter, their background or cultural choice [sic],” he said.