Councillor John Walker (pictured) has been elected Young’s new mayor for the next 12 months following an unexpected 6-3 vote on Wednesday night.
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Cr Ben Cooper has retained his position, unopposed, as deputy mayor for a third term.
In what was predicted in public to be a close contest between incumbent mayor Cr Stuart Freudenstein and Cr Walker – based on two councillors not divulging their voting intentions – something very different was going on in the minds of the nine councillors.
This was revealed at 5pm at the beginning of council’s monthly meeting in the Council Chambers when they put the top job to a vote in Young’s annual mayoral election.
Cr Cooper stirred the election waters when he pushed for an open vote, strongly supported by Cr Brian Ingram.
Every year councillors have the option to conduct their mayoral election by ordinary ballot, preferential ballot or an open vote – in other words, a show of hands. For the last two elections councillors had opted for an ordinary ballot.
On Wednesday night Cr Tony Wallace questioned the need for an open vote but was outnumbered by his fellow councillors.
Within minutes Cr Freudenstein lost the top job, getting only three votes (himself, Cr Cooper and Cr Ingram) to Cr Walker’s six (himself, Cr Wallace, Cr Sandy Freudenstein, Cr John McGregor, Cr Brian Mullany and Cr Allan Miller).
By 5.05pm Cr Walker had stepped into the mayoral seat for the first time in 11 years, his first duty thanking Cr Freudenstein for his six years of service.
Yesterday morning he told The Witness Wednesday’s result was “a little bit more encouraging than he was expecting”, adding that he knew the movements of some councillors.
He said he was humble and proud to be elected.
“I think councillors and the community have given us a message,” Cr Walker said yesterday.
He again praised Cr Freudenstein for his work as mayor.
“Very much so. He’s worked very hard on a number of projects like the railway, the medical centre and many others, and deserves to be recognised.”
Now he’ll be sitting down and listening to his councillors.
“I’m going to consult heavily with our councillors, who are receiving the community’s messages that they’re not being heard, and collate some sort of plan from the main issues,” Cr Walker said.
“With our councillors, we have a huge range of talent I think we’ve never seen before… I think great things will emerge in the next year or two.”
Other plans for the next 12 months include looking at proposed council amalgamations
“There’s a strategy coming from the government that amalgamations are not forced but [there’s talk adrift] they’re giving financial incentives… something like $10 million between the three shires, giving an ultimatum to amalgamate,” he said.
“We as a council will look at what arrangements have been made and how far down the track it’s gone.”
Developments in the shire will also garner attention, Cr Walker says he is concerned about community feedback around limitations and hurdles potentially impeding growth.