As the only council employee who is employed by councillors themselves, Dr Dale's contract was the subject of the last council meeting where seven of the nine councillors agreed on a three-month extension to September 30, 2022.

Dr Dale provides advice and information to councillors on a number of different topics to allow them to make informed decisions.

"It is one of my primary responsibilities to ensure the councillors have all the information they can to enable them to make decisions, because that is fundamentally what governments do," she says.

"I'm also responsible for making sure whatever the council resolve or decide during their council meetings, is in fact implemented."

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As the "bridge" between councillors and the council, an organisation made up of around 600 staff, Dr Dale says her priority is to make sure the right foundations underpin the work.

"The values and the culture of an organization are really important," she says.

"My role is to make sure we have a culture that is positive, customer focused, strategic and has all the right values underpinning it.

"You need to get the culture right and that absolutely starts at the top with the councillors themselves and the management team."

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Dr Dale previously led three councils in Victoria, held a senior role in the education department and was CEO of the not-for-profit organisation, Ostara Australia.

She also holds a PhD in the role of local government.

But this is the first council position where she lives and works in the same area.

"I think it's actually more of a benefit than a disadvantage, because what you do at work impacts on the community in which you live," she says.

"You're able to make better judgment calls about what is the most important priority for our community because you're part of it.

"My driving force is seeing outcomes for the community, and having a team committed to that goal."

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Come December 4, a new council will be elected, which brings fresh perspectives, opportunities and challenges for the general manager role.

"A great thing about local government is when you have nine people who come from various backgrounds and bring their own skills to the table," she says.

"What we need to do as an organization is assist the newly elected council come up to speed with things like the codes of meeting practice and what the budget says.

"There's also so many legal acts they need to become familiar with like the Local Government Act, Planning and Environment Act, the Roads Act."

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Dr Dale says newly elected councillors are often surprised by the broad spectrum of issues they will face during their terms including planning, community services, engineering, finance and more.

"Local governments do so many different things and it can be a steep learning curve," she says.

"It's my responsibility to make sure we have an induction program to assist newly elected councillors to get to know the diversity of issues they will have to make decisions on.

"What I always say is, hopefully we can have new councillors who come in on an escalator, not go full pelt on a running machine."

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As for the changes to the shire, Dr Dale says the exponential growth of social media in the past nine years has impacted the community.

"Social media has changed the way people in this community interact with each other," she says.

"It's not always for the better and probably in some ways it's more negative than positive, particularly when you have the so-called 'keyboard warriors'."

Dr Dale says it's important for people to consider where they get their information from and how reliable the source is.

"I do get concerned about where people find information. There's certainly blogs I won't ever read, even though they could be having a real go at me," she says.

"I don't particularly care what they say about me, because I don't read them."

Instead, Dr Dale reads good old fashioned newspapers, and says its her way to relax after a day at work.

"I'm a bit of a newspaper addict and I read them every day," she says.

"The reason I like newspapers is because it broadens your view. You might be dealing with one piece of an issue, and then you read about other things that are happening and it gives you new perspectives."