TWEED Shire Council mayor Kevin Skinner is a country boy with a real passion for his coastal home.

To celebrate Local Government Week, the mayor gave insight into his personal life. What strikes first is his laid-back appearance.

Sporting a button-up shirt, jeans and RM Williams boots, Mr Skinner does not fit the traditional mould of council officer.

“After six years of wearing a tie at high school, I’m not a real lover of them now,” he said.

Mr Skinner grew up in Trangie, a little town in central NSW, and went to a boarding school in Tamworth.

But while his formative years were spent in the bush, it was his family’s sea change to Bilinga in 1970 that inspired Mr Skinner.

“I was gobsmacked, really,” he said of the glitz and glam of the Gold and Tweed coasts.

“I thought how nice is this? I absolutely fell in love with the place.”

That sentiment from 40 years ago is something he has never forgotten.

He had spent much of his life in the hospitality industry.

However, it was the shire’s dark past that lead Mr Skinner down the path to mayor.

“I love this place but I have seen some terrible, corrupt things happen in this shire in the past.”

“I decided I wanted to be part of the process to ensure we keep this place as it is.”

But he does not mean to stop progress.

He expressed his views on the need for sustainable practices and the rejection of urban sprawl.

“It’s ridiculous to think that people are going to stop moving here, because they’re not.”

“What we need to do is develop strategies that see urban centres cater for more people. We have the infrastructure there, we don’t want suburbs stretching across the beautiful areas of our shire.”