Jan, who served as emeritus mayor with the former Great Lakes Council for eight of those years and deputy mayor for six, paid tribute and thanked the staff who worked with her during the past 26 years.

"I thank the staff at Great Lakes; I will miss them," she said.

"They have been like family."

A five-day-a week-mayor during her tenure, Jan stepped aside to spend more time with her family and long-time partner, Dennis Dowsett and to begin a new chapter of her life, exploring and relaxing.

"I have missed a lot of birthdays; I have been married to the job now it is time for my family and Dennis," she told the Great Lakes Advocate earlier this week.

As the one-time face of the Great Lakes Council Jan has left a legacy of proud achievements that have been enjoyed and welcomed by thousands of residents and ratepayers.

While she proudly says her greatest achievement was becoming mayor, Jan also listed the construction of the grandstand at the Harry Elliott Oval and the Tuncurry skatepark high on her list of significant milestones.

Jan, a patron for the Great Lakes Women's Shelter, also raised the issue and got behind the establishment of a safe haven for women and children escaping domestic violence many years ago.

The introduction by the State government of an Australian Citizenship Day during Australia Day celebrations at Club Forster became a favourite activity for Jan and often brought her to tears.

"I was proud of them becoming Australian citizens; they were so courageous to take this step."

During her long, selfless years of service Jan became the recipient of three woman of the year local government awards and was also acknowledged for her 20 years and 25 years of service to local government by the Premier and department of Local Government .

Describing herself as a people person, Jan had an open door policy during her term as mayor.

"And that was for everyone; I have a good rapport with people."

Which is more than evident judging by the number of times she is stopped in the street and asked for advice or a favour.

Some people seem to have forgotten she is no longer the mayor.

Jan entered local government back in the late 90s after learning council had planned to approve the development of a high rise near her Catherine Street, Tuncurry apartment block.

She was surprised and slightly annoyed with the behaviour within the chamber when she was voicing her opposition about the planned development to councillors.

As she was addressing the chamber councillors and staff made cups of tea and coffee and passed notes to one another.

"They were not listening to me; it was (to them) an uninteresting council complaint."

After her initial introduction to the goings on in council, Jan made a point of attending every meeting to learn all she could before making the move into local government.

Jan acknowledged and thanked former mayor, John Chadban and three former general managers, Gerry McDonagh, Keith O'Leary and Glenn Handford who all guided and educated her.

"I went in as a novice, but I had a lot of help along the way.

"The team effort helped maintain positive control of ratepayers' finances."

Speaking before Federal parliament in late February, Member for Lyne, David Gillespie said: "Councillor Jan McWilliams loves her community and her impressive election record demonstrates that her community loves her and appreciates her work."

"Anyone thinking about sitting for council you will not only need to have qualifications and brains, but you need to be a people person and with a lot of commonsense."

Always the professional Jan timed her retirement to ensure there would be no need for a costly by-election.

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