"It's time for honest conversations with the community" about resources and services and council's new general manager, Ron Posselt is keen to begin the discussion and keen to listen.

Yesterday Ron signed the paperwork for the top job and within minutes set about setting the tone for his tenure. It is about community and it is about conversation.

He wants to talk. He wants to listen and says the dawn of 2015 will see the beginning of a program of community conversations that will reveal exactly what services Manning Valley residents want delivered with the resources at the disposal of council.

The creation of a service profile is on the council agenda and in simple terms, Ron says that is "learning what the community expects, what things they think are non-negotiable and then looking at how that can fit into the funding sources we have."

Ron says the time has come to "have an honest conversation" about the things that really matter. He says council knows the deteriorating condition of our roads and bridges matters to the community but lays bare the reality of council's capacity to rebuild that infrastructure.

"We are not getting assistance from the other tiers of government to solve that problem and the reform process does not address that core issue," Ron explained.

"We have too much infrastructure in this local government area for this ratepayer base to maintain or rebuild roads.

"We are not alone. Nearly every regional council is in the same situation and no-one is listening to that conversation and we will be advocates for that conversation.

"There is a right for regional Australia to be funded for their transport network which is so critical to the lives of people in regional Australia.

"Roads and bridges around Australia are the arteries and veins of the communities that exist and it shouldn't be up to just the ratepayers to maintain that through council rates.

"Hundreds of bridges, thousands of kilometres of road, it is irresponsible of other levels of government not to want to address that."

Ron says council will continue its conversations with the State and federal government about inequitable infrastructure funding and at the same time, talk to Manning Valley residents about how and where dollars should be spent.

"What we need to describe to the community in very real terms is what the reality is just what those dollars buy and what services it can deliver," Ron explained.

"We would like to deliver more but we only have a certain amount of resources and there needs to be an agreement that we are doing the things that the community wants us to do."

Efficient and effective are two words that pepper Ron's conversation but it is mixed with words that hint at a genuine commitment to reveal the efforts of council staff to exceeding community expectations.

"We need to be able to put our hands on our heart and say, this is an effective way to do this. We need to deliver those things efficiently and effectively and ensure that we don't waste ratepayer dollars on services that we deliver. It's really important that it's open and transparent," Ron said.

Ron contends that in the last five years there has been a change within council and that the community has noticed.

"They have seen more transparency around the organisation, they have seen more efficiency and effectiveness and they have seen more engagement. Now we will ramp up that engagement next year," he said.

Ron hints at difficult conversations to come when he explains how council will review where it spends its dollars.

"There are some things that we do know the community really want, but to what level they want it provided, well that is another issue altogether," Ron explains and then cites Greater Taree Libraries as an example of a difficult conversation that will occur.

"We need to agree on how many library service points we have and at the moment we have five library service points. That is a lot for a council of this size and adds a significant amount to our budget," he explained.

"So we need to have a conversation about how important those library service points actually are and the fact that if we put money into that, then it is money that we don't put into infrastructure. "I'm not suggesting that we do one or the other, but we just need to have that conversation about how that works."

Ron's four-year history with council gives him form to be able to discuss the reality of our community and his motivation for contributing to its development.

"It's a privilege to work in an organisation that delivers services to the community in which you live. Not many people have the opportunity to do that. You can walk down the street and say that what I did today contributed to the community. I am not here to make money for private enterprise, I am doing it for my community and I think that is very powerful and that's why I like local government," he explained.

"The Manning Valley is a great place to live for a whole stack of reasons. Sure there are social issues, and we need to work on those issues but we need to have a different mindset.

"We need to go forward with a positive attitude and there are lots of people out there who want to do that, but there are also lots of nay-sayers as well, those who say 'we can't afford to do this and can't afford to do that because we are a low socio-economic community'. We need to change that, if people keep talking about being a two-bob town and keep telling everyone we are a two-bob town, well then, that is what you will be."

Ron is calling for our community to see the Manning Valley for what it is and to contribute to its potential for growth and development.

"It's location is perfect to be able to go anywhere else, so Sydney, Brisbane, everything is a hop, step and a jump away. The climate is nigh on perfect and I think it has a great natural beauty. "When you drive into the Manning Valley, just look at it, and see the escarpment up at Comboyne and the way it runs around, Dingo Tops and then if you look down to the coast, and our river this is a magnificent piece of Australia."