Geoff Helisma
When the count was completed on Monday December 20, four new faces were elected to serve on Clarence Valley Council (CVC).
Jeff Smith, Steve Pickering, Peter Johnstone and Alison Whaites will join re-elected councillors, Greg Clancy, Debrah Novak and Karen Toms.
Clarence Valley Council’s inaugural mayor and former Maclean shire mayor, Ian Tiley, and former Maclean shire councillor and former Clarence River Tourism Association manager, Bill Day, complete the lineup.
Only Jeff Smith and Debrah Novak were elected on first preferences; Ian Tiley (3rd count) was elected following the distribution of Debrah Novak’s preferences; Alison Whaites was elected at the 6th count; Bill Day and Greg Clancy at the 10th count; Peter Johnstone at the 13th count; and Karen Toms and Steve Pickering were elected after the 14th count/distribution of preferences, however, they were elected without reaching the 3,067-vote quota.
Of the 38,544 people enrolled, 33,019 people (85.67 per cent) voted.
Two thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight people (7.14 per cent) cast informal votes; leaving a total of 30,661 formal votes counted.
Peter Ellem fell one place short of re-election, finishing neither elected or excluded by the count, on the basis that “distribution of the total votes of candidates would not change the elected candidate(s), therefore [his] exclusion did not proceed”.
The first meeting of the new council will take place at the Grafton chambers on January 11.
At that meeting, councillors will elect the mayor and deputy mayor; nominate for positions on the environment, planning and community committee, and the corporate, governance and works committee; and determine councillor representation on the external bodies, Section 355 committees and advisory committees.