Mayors were sacked, and the community was left wondering what to make of their newly appointed administrator.

When Ian Tiley first arrived in Armidale, he simultaneously became the region’s most loved and most hated man - and he still is.

To some, he is a dictator, making changes at will, only accountable to himself.

To others, a savior from a benign, ineffective, self-serving council, failing residents at every turn.

But now, halfway through his tenure, how has the man with a doctorate in local government amalgamations of all things, performed?

His decision to relocate the library to the Phoenix Centre on Rusden Street was the single biggest headline-grabbing decision so far.

Even though the building’s fit-out has already begun and with a scheduled opening in April, residents still remain deeply divided on the issue.

But if you ask Dr Tiley what he considers his most import achievements in the past eight months, he’ll point to far more fundamental changes within Council.

From the outset, Dr Tiley has taken a ground-up approach to merging the two councils.

It started with listening tours of every backwater in the district.

And has culminated in a new, 10-year community strategic plan, which was just endorsed by the administrator last week and will soon be put the residents for their approval. There are also new strategic plans being developed for arts and culture, economic development, and communications.

Not least important was his decision to order an external audit of Council’s organisation structure.

The audit found streamlining management into three tiers - a chief executive, two group leaders, and eight service leaders - could save on Council’s bottom line, while delivering better service.

The new structure, along with the resignation of general manager Glenn Wilcox, has resulted in a brand new executive team, all due to start on Monday.

One of Dr Tiley’s first moves as administrators was to put three council master plans on public exhibition; the mall, airport, and Dumaresq Dam.

The airport plan was ratified before Christmas and construction on a new $10.5 million terminal extension has started.

The dam plan was also endorsed last year, with developments expected to be completed in 2017.

And the mall plan is scheduled for presentation at February's Council meeting after being rejected earlier this month for lacking detail.  

So what’s next?