Stepping into the role of Mayor is one thing, but doing it during a global pandemic was a "baptism of fire" according to Mount Isa City Council Mayor Danielle Slade.
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Cr Danielle Slade won the seat of Mayor during the 2020 Local Government Election in March, as the spread of COVID-19 begun to sweep across Queensland.
"The phrase hit the ground running does not compare," Cr Slade said.
"It has been a baptism of fire and a big learning curve, after this year I feel like I am going to be able to do anything."
Cr Slade said Mount Isa had done well working through this pandemic as a community
"COVID-19 has really changed the scheme of things and as a community we have been doing it tough," she said.
"We didn't get any cases locally, we did social distancing well and we are in the next phase of being able to reopen things. There is a lot of businesses that have shut up shop and I am hoping that things are changing that they'll be able to reopen. There are a lot of people who have lost income and it's going to be challenging for the next 6 -12 months."
Cr Slade thanked businesses like Mount Isa Mines who kept staff on and employed additional workers during the pandemic.
"A big thanks to Mount Isa Mines, they did pick up a lot of workers who were let go from the hospitality industry and employed people to conduct temperature checks and stuff like that," she said.
"They didn't do any retrenchments themselves, when it was something they could have done easily. So they really saved the day for Mount Isa in that respect."
Cr Slade encouraged anyone who was doing it tough to get in touch with Council.
"The one things we really want is for people to come in and see us if they are struggling," she said.
"One thing we will be able to do for you is we will be able to freeze any interest on the rates as part of a payment plan and we believe that will be a big help to a lot of businesses.
"Also if we can sit down with the individual or business, we might be able to find ways to save you money- that might include stopping a bin service while your business is closed, things like that.
"What we don't want is for people to not pay anything and then there is another rates bill on top of the first, so we want to help people straight away."
Cr Slade said there were also funding opportunities for sporting and community groups.
"At the moment we have sporting organisations that didn't start their season and now we are in July and they are trying to accomplish something," she said.
"I know women's soccer is not going ahead this year, which broke my heart. I've played for 28 years and never missed a season, so it's devastating. But there are sporting and community grants available twice a year.
"We have recently just given away $31,000 with another round of funding available at the end of the year."
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Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
