MYRTLEFORD will have three people on the Alpine Council with former policeman Ron Janas and chemist John Forsyth joining long-serving Jan Vonarx as councillors after the weekend poll.
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Cr Vonarx was one of four councillors to be re-elected.
But Bright’s Narda Cain lost out to another councillor from the tourist town in Daryl Pearce after preferences pushed her down the list.
Ms Cain held a clear lead on first-preference votes but the distribution of other candidates’ preferences saw former mayor Cr Pearce sneak into the last spot and Jeremy Smith replace her as next elect.
Yesterday Mr Smith called for a recount that was late last night yet to be finalised.
Also joining the team will be Wandiligong’s Kate Farrell.
Peter Roper topped the poll — more than 300 votes ahead of any other candidate.
He down-played his personal vote as a result of parochial Kiewa Valley ratepayers.
“I think the vote is great for me but also shows why we need to go back to a wards’ system and a better way of handling preferences,” he said.
“Last time the Kiewa Valley vote was split between three people and this election there has been just Tony (Keeble) and myself and the result of that is we have picked up a couple of hundred extra votes each.
“There are three communities in the Alpine Shire and people tend to vote for someone they know, someone from their town.
“But it also highlighted the deficiencies in the preference system — Narda Cain beat Daryl Pearce by more than 70 votes but, with preferences, he has pushed her out of the last seat.”
Mr Forsyth said he had no particular agenda but would learn from others.
“I think it is going to be a pretty steep learning curve,” he said yesterday.
