CONTENDER: Tim Coates was in seventh place as vote counting continued for the Tamworth Regional Council yesterday. Photo: Barry Smith 110912BSB07
TIM Coates is well and truly on track to be one of Tamworth’s newest councillors.
As it stands Mr Coates is running seventh in the list of 17 council candidate hopefuls – waiting only for preference votes to be counted.
At 11am yesterday Mr Coates had recorded 2004 first preference votes – about 7.88 per cent of the formal votes tallied.
The candidates to poll ahead of him were incumbent mayor Col Murray, deputy mayor Russell Webb, long-time councillor Warren Woodley, former mayor James Treloar, current councillor Helen Tickle and Mark Rodda.
A more up-to-date decision on who the region’s nine councillors are is likely to be announced tomorrow.
For Mr Coates, his election to the role of councillor might mean some changes.
At present he is heavily involved in a number of business, sporting and community based organisations.
He is the president of the Tamworth Business Chamber, Tamworth Jockey Club, and sits on the Moonbi Community Development Committee; is a member of Rotary Club of Tamworth First Light; the Greater Northern Skills Development group; the Tamworth Country Music Festival; the Taminda Working Group and Northern Inland Football.
Mr Coates said community involvement was the reason he decided to stand for council.
“All of those things and that involvement are the reason I decided to run,” he said.
“I love doing it.”
After recording 6.13 per cent of the formal first preference votes in Saturday’s election Mr Coates was the fifth most favoured of the 17 candidates vying for one of nine seats on council.
He said until final results were in, he wasn’t likely to make a decision on which committees he may or may not have to step away from because of a conflict of interest.
“A number of the committees I am involved in are council committees and working groups and I am the community representative,” he said.
“Many of those I would like to continue an association with as a member of council.”
Mr Coates said when the final results were announced he intended to speak to council general manager Paul Bennett about conflicts as they arose.
“I will obviously work within what the Local Government Act suggests is appropriate,” he said.
Mr Coates said he believed, looking forward, there would be some immense challenges for the council.
“I really believe I can add something to the argument,” he said.
Commenting on other elements of the election, Mr Coates said the fact current mayor Col Murray polled so well was a reflection of the quality of his leadership.
“That amount of votes is an overwhelming endorsement of his leadership and contribution,” he said.