NEW councillors in Walcha will have to hit the ground running as the town recovers from floods, the closure of the Oxley Highway, COVID-19 restrictions and then more floods.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Four new people will be making decisions for the community following the retirement of Peter Blomfield, Bill Heazlett, Rachael Wellings and deputy mayor Jennifer Kealey.
Due to Walcha's four ward system - with two being elected from each ward - three replacements have already been confirmed due to their ward only having two candidates.
Aurora Riley is on track to take the final place, but is only sitting 14 votes ahead of Michael Luchic, in Ward D.
There is also a battle going on in Ward B, with current councillor Clint Lyon only leading Anne-Marie Pointing by 11 votes, meaning if Ms Pointing can make a comeback there would be five new faces on council.
The locked-in newcomers are Mark Berry, Greg Schaefer and Nena Hicks, with the latter hoping to be a voice for the smaller communities in the local government area.
"My goals are to represent all of the Walcha shire, but particularly those people that live on the edge of the shire," she said.
Born and schooled in Nowendoc, Ms Hicks left when she was 16, but returned to the region 12 years ago to support her ageing father, and is now a farmer.
READ ALSO:
As part of looking out for people in rural areas, the 63-year-old wants to make sure Walcha council isn't amalgamated and stays free from the grasp of political motives.
"I want to maintain the independence of Walcha council and to support concepts of transparency in decision making and fiscal responsibility," she said.
Meanwhile, 59 year old cattle and sheep grazier Mark Berry, who has lived in Walcha since 1996, is confident he can make a positive impact.
"I've decided to run for council mainly because I'd like to see our infrastructure around the district improved," he said.
"I'd like to see the community banding together a lot more, and our roads lack a lot of maintenance.
"And I'd like to just generally see council improve the state of our region."
Incumbent mayor Eric Noakes received a fair vote of confidence from the community, having picked up more than 75 per cent of the primary votes in his ward so far.
With so many new councillors it will be important for him - should he remain mayor - to help settle them in quickly and get everyone working on the same page.
"It's quite humbling to get a vote like that and hopefully it's a reflection of the way the community has seen the last council has run," he said.
"There's a lot to learn in local government and I think every new councillor comes in with an expectation of what they want.
"And while it's great to have those aspirations, it's got to tie in with the budget and other things."
Of course Cr Noakes and the other councillors following on from last term have their own focuses, which mainly centre around securing water supply for the town via its off-creek storage project, and improving roads.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News