COMBATANTS for the past two years, councillors Fred Harvison and Sue Moore will be squaring off again this year in the Mayoral election.
After finishing as the leading vote-getters in their respective wards in the weekend’s local government election, Crs Harvison and Moore both confirmed they would be putting their hands up for the position of Mayor again.
In their previous two stoushes for the position of Mayor, Cr Harvison has scored narrow seven votes to five victories over Cr Moore.
However, with four new councillors voted in during the election, the numbers may be with Cr Moore on this occasion.
Despite this, Cr Moore was being cautious about her chances of winning the Mayoral ballot.
“I am hopeful of winning but I don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched,” Cr Moore said.
“I would like to think I will bring a different perspective and approach to the position.”
Cr Moore said she didn’t foresee any problems dealing with protocol during meetings.
If Cr Moore wins the vote, she will be Singleton’s first female Mayor.
Cr Harvison said he would look forward to representing the Singleton community as Mayor again if given the opportunity.
He said he was hopeful of being able to continue the positive work he felt council has achieved in recent years.
“I’d like to see projects that have started while I have been Mayor, such as Gowrie Street Mall, the streetscape, and the various land releases, through to their conclusion,” Cr Harvison said.
“Whoever is Mayor for the next year will have to help manage the growth and development of our town and the opportunity to be involved in this is something that I relish.”
Cr Harvison has been Mayor of Singleton since September, 2002.
The positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor and other committee positions will be decided at the first meeting of Singleton Council for this term, which will be held on Monday September 29.
Local government election count declared
THE final votes have been counted and Singleton has its 12 councillors confirmed for the next four years.
And for the first time in Singleton Council’s history, there is an equal balance of gender, with six men and six women elected.
The balance between men and women on council bucks the trend across most local government areas in New South Wales.
At the time of going to press, The Department of Local Government was investigating whether Singleton Council was in fact the most gender balanced council in the State.
The trend is for men to far outweigh women, usually at a 3:1 ratio.
Singleton’s previous council had four women and that was considered good in terms of gender equity.
The distribution of preferences took place on Tuesday, with all councillors that led on first preference voting holding on to win election.
B Ward was the most contentious coming out of the first preference count, however, Godfrey Adamthwaite and Colby Crane both maintained enough of an advantage over Mark Lyons and Matthew Vercoe to win a seat.
Val Scott and Lee Gallagher were the other councillors from B ward to be elected.
In A Ward, Paul Nichols and Tony McNamara both had a significant lead on Brian Walker after first preferences were counted, and they maintained this to retain their positions on council.
Sue Moore was relected and Alison Howlett makes a return to council after a one-term break.
In C Ward, the grouping of Fred Harvison, Bob Weir, Michael McCrone and Greig Delaney did not have the desired effect the four men were hoping for, with only Cr Harvison making it onto council.
The other C Ward candidates, Lyn MacBain, John Martin and Maxine Smith, were all elected councillors.
Returning officer Graeme O’Brien declared the poll at midday yesterday with a handful of the candidates present to hear the outcome.
However most knew the result by close of business on Tuesday.
Newcomers Godfrey Adamthwaite and Colby Crane were pleased with their success and both looked forward to the challenges ahead.
The new councillors will attend their first meeting on Monday September 29.
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