A long serving police officer and part time farmer Mr Buhr says he is aware of the issues facing rural and regional communities.

"I've been in the NSW police for just over 25 years and the vast majority of that service has been in rural and regional NSW, including places like Wellington, Dubbo and Cowra," he said.

"I'm also a part time farmer, I've owned a rural property in Cowra for over 30 years, running a small herd of beef cattle.

"I've been back in Cowra now for five years and during that time, I've come to understand and appreciate some of the local issues here that concern people."

He believes local government is about growing local communities, providing jobs and opportunity and good quality infrastructure.

To do that Mr Buhr believes Cowra needs to embrace some of the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Clearly COVID-19 has changed the way the economy is functioning and many of those changes, I think, are going to remain," he said.

"One of those is working from home, I'd call it almost a revolution, you have people living in congested expensive capital cities that are genuinely looking at relocating to a regional area for the lifestyle.

"And we can certainly provide that.

"Many of those people now bring a job with them, which is an added advantage.

"There's other councils in the area that have cottoned on to this and we don't want to be caught short.

"One of the key things to that is making sure we've got a good supply of residential land that's available now and into the future."

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The second, he says, is replacing the low level bridge over the Lachlan River which has been under water for many weeks this year.

"There's been a number of plans put up and council has failed to agree on anything but I think what we can all agree on is if that bridge is rendered unusable, we're going to have traffic chaos," he said.

"So a priority for me if elected would be to have this matter brought back before council as soon as possible."

He also believes the new council needs to keep the Cowra Hospital redevelopment on track.

"I'm a strong advocate of making the state government honour it's pledge to redevelop the hospital," he said.

"The announcement was made some time ago, certainly COVID has thrown a spanner in the works, but we need an upgraded or a new facility. It is way overdue.

"Council has a responsibility to the health and wellbeing of it's community and a hospital is absolutely central to that.

"Whilst council is not contributing financially to it, it is a very important element to a healthy community."

Mr Buhr is a past member of the former Wellington Council and said if elected he knew the difficulties he might face.

"I know how councils operate, I know the system and how it works, so I'm not going in there with rose coloured glasses.

"I think it's great to see so many candidates and maybe that's a reflection of people wanting to see some fresh ideas.

"But at the end of the day there are some core activities we can't walk away from and whilst replacing a bridge mightn't be 'sexy' it's a necessary function of council and something that has to be addressed sooner rather than later."

Mr Buhr believes his strategies and experience will help promote and grow the region's economy.

"I'm fairly passionate about the rural economy and it's importance to the overall economy of Cowra," he said.

"To that end we need to make sure we continue to have our rural road network well maintained, safe and made better where we can.

"My experience is that a stronger community both economically and opportunity wise, is by virtue of that, a far safe community.

"There's always been the question of whether we need CCTV and certainly areas around adequate lighting in the Central Business District and other regularly used areas.

"We see that all the time, and councils can do things to make the job of policing easier."

Mr Buhr said these ideas weren't just for the township of Cowra, but extended out in to the shire's villages.

"Certainly the housing strategy is for the villages too," he said.

"Where we can make more land available in the villages we should.

"The villages deserve to share in the growth as well to make themselves more sustainable.

"I'm a big advocate of beautification and I know many people in the villages feel the same, simple things like planting trees or having nice usable open spaces, that's very important.

"And I'll be making sure their voices are heard in the council.

"None of this comes easy but I'm determined to get a result for the people of the shire. All I need is your support on Saturday, December 4, 2021."

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