On an historic night at Singleton Council, Cr Sue Moore was elected to the position of Mayor with a seven votes to five victory over incumbent Cr Fred Harvison.

Cr Paul Nichols was returned for his third term as Deputy Mayor, defeating challenger Cr Lee Gallagher nine votes to three.

And while they are honoured to be elected to council by their rural counterparts, Crs Moore and Nichols said they weren’t going to be favouring rural issues over those for the rest of the town.

“We are not all about rural issues, we have been elected to do our best for the whole Singleton community and that is what we will do,” Cr Nichols said.

While still getting her head around the fact she now holds the top civic position in Singleton, Cr Moore said the main issue she wants to improve in the next year is the level of community involvement with council.

“There is a bit of an ‘us and them’ state of mind with the community towards council,” Cr Moore said.

“I think we need to form a strong connection with the community and the way we can do that is to just listen to what the community wants.”

Cr Moore said an example of this was the CBD Streetscape, with councillors needing to identify if this was something the majority of people wanted before applying for a special rate variation which would be likely required to fund the project.

Cr Moore is also hopeful that council will be united behind her over the next 12 months.

“I realise it is going to be some resistance to me being Mayor, but that is just part of the challenge,” Cr Moore said.

Cr Nichols said that he too was hopeful council’s teamwork could improve in the coming year.

“When people vote on issues, they are doing what they think is right for the community,” Cr Nichols said.

“At the end of that we should be able to move on with whatever decision is made, whether you agree with it or not.

“That is what a team does.”

There were unprecedented scenes in the Council Chamber on Monday night, as the public gallery of around 50 people exploded in spontaneous applause when Cr Moore was elected Mayor.

Cr Moore said she was overcome by the show of support and it took several minutes for her to regain her composure.

She said she was grateful for the support from the community and her fellow councillors in her campaign to become Mayor.