| City of Griffith New South Wales |
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Location in New South Wales |
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| Population: | 25,703(2009)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Area: | 1640.05 km² (633.2 sq mi) [2] | ||||||||||||
| Mayor: | Mike Neville | ||||||||||||
| Council Seat: | Griffith (Benerembah Street)[3] | ||||||||||||
| Region: | Riverina | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Murrumbidgee | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Riverina | ||||||||||||
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The City of Griffith is a Local Government Area in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and on Kidman Way.
In addition to Griffith, it includes the towns and villages of Willbriggie, Hanwood, Beelbangera, Bilbul, Yoogali, Widgelli, Yenda, Lake Wyangan, Tharbogang and Warburn and the suburbs of Collina, North Griffith, Murrumbidgee Estate, Mayfair and Pioneer.
Griffith City Council has twelve members who stand for election every four years.
In September 2006, Councillor Dino Zappacosta was elected mayor by the majority of the councillors. Councillor Zappacosta is the only person to have been elected mayor of Griffith after having previously been disqualified from sitting on the council. In May 1999 the Department of Local Government's Pecuniary Interests Tribunal ordered that Councillor Zappacosta be disqualified from holding civic office for two months for having breached his pecuniary interest obligations.
Griffith City Council is composed of eleven councillors elected proportionally, in addition to the mayor, who is directly elected.[4] The current makeup of the council, including the mayor is as follows:[4]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Independents and Unaffiliated | 12 | |
| Total | 12 | |
The current council, elected in 2008, is:[4]
| Councillor | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Neville | Independent | Mayor | |
| Bill Lancaster | Independent | Elected on Mike Neville's ticket | |
| Dominic Testoni | Unaffiliated | Deputy Mayor | |
| Pat Cox | Independent | ||
| Doug Curran | Independent | Elected on Dominic Testoni's ticket | |
| Peter Fussell | Independent | ||
| Christine Stead | Independent | ||
| Peter Taylor | Independent | ||
| Allan Bennett | Unaffiliated | ||
| Anne Napoli | Independent | ||
| Dino Zappacosta | Independent | ||
| Simon Croce | Unaffiliated | ||
Griffith has sister city relations with the following cities[5]:
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