“We are here to listen.” That is the rallying call from new St George Mayor Quinell Francis ahead of the first town hall meeting to take place under her watch this evening.

Ms Francis urged residents and business owners in St George to attend the meeting at Penno’s Wharf where the new council will be presented for the first time and plans for the World Series in October will be unveiled.

“Michelle Halpin from the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) will be making a presentation outlining the events planned for St George on October 15,” she said.

“There will be dinghy racing in the harbour with the sea cadets and members of Team Oracle followed by a fish fry.

“The programme will form part of a series of events in the run-up to the racing. It’s a good start for us and shows that the ACEA has St George in mind as we move forward to the big event in 2017.”

It has been nearly a month since Ms Francis was voted in as Mayor of St George ahead of her predecessor Garth Rothwell.

“It’s been pretty busy, but so far so good,” she said.

“I have met with a lot of different groups including the Chamber of Commerce, the World Heritage Site Committee and the ACEA and so we can formulate the town plan.

“Our priorities remain economic revival, customer satisfaction and infrastructure improvements and I hope that before the end of the month we will be able to present the Minister of the Municipalities with the final agreement between the corporation and the marina developers for consideration by cabinet.

“We would like to see this put before Parliament during the summer session.”

Ms Francis will remain in charge of the town’s activities committee while Jamie Sapsford will run the governance, legislation and safety committee, Phillip Anderson will chair the infrastructure and development committee and Anthony Richardson will take charge of the finance and property committee.

“The most important thing about the town hall meeting is that it is an open forum. We are looking for people to come with suggestions and concerns.

“I would like to form a business group and a residents group in the town but that will depend on whether people want to take an active role in these areas.

“So I hope people come and let their voices be heard because we are here to listen.”