Shell Cove marina dividends a priority, says Kellie Marsh

Cr Marsh said it was "an honour and a privilege" to be voted in to serve as deputy to new mayor Chris Homer, who she said had been doing a "fabulous" job.

"I want to work in a cohesive way with the new council, work with the new council to assist and learn the processes of council and to give them a hand up whenever they see fit," she said.

"We've got a challenging time ahead to balance the community's wants and needs with our own budget and making sure we stay financially sustainable.

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"We have the dividends that will be coming online from the new marina, so we have to make sure that we invest some of that money, but also we have some wealth creation across the city with some of the assets."

The dividend will be in the multi-millions.

"Since I first came on council it's always been [said that the marina] would help set council up for the future.

"We've put in place a board that will be looking at the money coming in from the marina, to look at the best ways from a business perspective that we can move forward."

She said Mr Homer had been working like a "Trojan".

"He's working tirelessly, from sunup to sundown for the community," she said.

"It's been an absolute pleasure working with him. He's got a great take on the Shellharbour community and I'm really looking forward to continuing to work with him."

Cr Marsh said it was unfortunate the new councillors were thrown in to a decision about how to deal with legal action regarding vote Ward A vote counting problems at their first meeting.

"We're in February now and to still be going through the turmoil is a horrible situation to be in," she said.

"They were thrown in the deep end - we have a number of new councillors and the first meeting they ever had was something our community had never faced before.

"I felt sorry for them, it was very difficult."

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