Message from the GM

Brett Stonestreet Message.png

Friday, 15 August 2025

Q&A with retiring General Manager, Brett Stonestreet

Q: You’ve been with Griffith City Council for 14 years. What are you most proud of achieving during your time here?

When I commenced with Council in 2011 our financial position was not sustainable. I am proud of the fact that we have achieved significant internal cost reduction and identified additional revenue streams (other than rates and charges). These strategies have extended our financial sustainability by more than a decade and enabled Council to leverage significant grants and other partnership capital to build important infrastructure.  

Q: What has been the most rewarding part of your role?

To have the privilege of working with such amazing staff, and this is not a flippant comment.  Here are just three examples.

First up, in 2012 a major organisation restructure was required and this directly impacted several of our staff. This was a difficult time for everyone but I am so proud that our staff as a whole approached this in a mature fashion and got on with the job. 

Secondly, who will ever forget the terrible floods of March 2012? This tragedy impacted so many residents and businesses especially in Yenda, Hanwood and Yoogali.  Griffith City Council staff “stood up when it counted”. Everyone pitched in without question to assist others who needed a helping hand. 

The third example is the resilience of our staff in the face of “working in a fish bowl”. Unlike metropolitan councils, regionally based council staff cannot disappear into anonymity by jumping on a suburban train after work. You all live and work in the same community and this can at times be a very challenging environment. Notwithstanding this you all “keep on keeping on” knowing that you are making a positive difference.     

Q: What will you miss most about working with Council?

My response to the last question probably answers this one as well. Local Government has been central to my life from 18 years of age. Back in 1980 my Dad noticed an advertisement in the “Lyndhurst Shire Chronical” (Blayney Newspaper) for a cadetship at the local Council. My LG story started there. I will really miss everyone associated with Council but I am determined to keep myself busy and I dare say that local government will probably play a part in that. 

Q: What’s next for you? How do you plan to spend your retirement?

A road trip through central Queensland with Vicki is first up on the agenda then back to our home in Griffith to explore the next chapter. I’ll be doing some work for sure but not on a full-time basis. 

Q: Any final message you’d like to share with the Griffith community?

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this community and as Griffith always does, “keep the glass half full”.

 

Previous messages

Friday 8 August 2025

Message from Mayor Doug Curran

“Good vibes are nature’s way of telling you that you’re in the right place or with the right person.” – Bruce H. Lipton

Last weekend’s Griffith Business Chamber awards was a stunning evening, spent with some of Griffith’s finest businesses and businesspeople. Well done to all of the winners, but a big call out to Multiquip who won the major award sponsored by Griffith City Council. There are so many wonderful businesses doing great things in our community, from supporting residents as we get a little older, to businesses operating environmentally sustainable practices, ensuring our community is well set up for the future. The economic benefit so many businesses bring to our City is enormous, but they also support our local sporting and service clubs, who in turn make our City a better place to live. Well done again to all nominees and winners, please keep up the great work and our community will continue to support you all.

This week has been rather hectic, with meetings in Sydney, advocating for a better share of the pie for Griffith and our region. We continue to push for a better outcome in regard to water buybacks and housing enabling infrastructure funds, these are Griffith’s two biggest hurdles at the moment in my opinion. We cannot accept to be forgotten and disregarded as we have been in the past, we must continue pushing our case and fighting for our region.

Last week Council released our investment prospectus and also had a presentation on our local economy. There were some really good figures released, and I encourage everyone to grab a copy of the prospectus, it highlights many opportunities that our region continues to see and that we must continue to work towards.

Stay safe, stay well and above all else be kind to each other and yourself, bye for now.

Doug Curran 
Mayor