Rodney Stevens

The election of the new Clarence Valley Mayor and Deputy Mayor at this month’s council meeting looks to be hotly contested with up to five councillors in the running for the top jobs.

Incumbent Mayor Ian Tiley is running for re-election as Mayor, along with Cr Debrah Novak, Cr Peter Johnstone, and Cr Steve Pickering, while current Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy said he is seriously considering his options before nominating for Deputy.

The Mayoral election will be the first item of business at council’s September 26 meeting at the Grafton chambers and will be conducted by council’s General Manager, who will decide at the meeting whether the election is held as an open ballot via a show of hands, or a secret ballot using paper votes.

The candidate who is elected Mayor will be announced, then the council goes through the same process to elect the Deputy Mayor before the councillors return to the ordinary items of business on the meeting agenda.

This term of council is much shorter than the usual four-year term, being 2 years and 8 months because of the rescheduling of the 2020 election due to Covid, with a new council to be elected in 2024.

Cr Tiley said he will be nominating for Mayor but the decision on whether he returns to the position rests with the councillors.

“I will be a candidate, I will not be giving any pitch and the other eight councillors know of my skills and attributes,” he said.

Cr Clancy said while he won’t be running for Mayor, he is seriously considering running for Deputy Mayor and was weighing up his options.

After seven years as a councillor, Debrah Novak said she will be nominating as a candidate for Mayor, as she did at the previous Mayoral election, but she won’t be running for Deputy Mayor.

With the experience she has gathered over her time on council, Cr Novak said she feels the time is right to bring the council together and advocate for the community for a better future for the residents of the Clarence Valley.

“I will be voting for someone that I think is honest and I can trust, I won’t be voting to kick someone out,” she said.

Previous Mayoral candidate, Cr Karen Toms told the CV Independent she had considered throwing her hat in the ring, but she wouldn’t be running for Mayor at this election.

First term councillor Steve Pickering said he will also be nominating for Mayor.

Cr Pickering said he wanted to see council foster a spirit of unity so it can move forward for the betterment of the entire community.

Fellow first term councillor Peter Johnstone said he will be nominating for election as Mayor.

“I think I would do a good job,” he said.

“All the experiences I have had up to now, I’m a former teacher so I’ve worked with people, I’m a former military officer, I’ve been a metal press operator and I’ve done a wide variety of things and I think I’m in a perfect position to bring people together to help the council move forward.

“It’s been great to watch Ian and to see the other councillors and learn about council staff and in particular learn so much more about the community, and I think it’s a perfect time for me to come forward for this.”

Cr Johnstone said due to the shorter term of council, the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be in their positions for 10 council meetings, before a new council is elected.

“I think the main thing is to bring people together and to set a foundation for the future, also to encourage quality people from across the Clarence to consider standing as councillors,” he said.

The Clarence Valley Independent will report on the outcome of the Mayoral election in the October 4 edition.