Votes were finalised on Monday afternoon for the Hilltops Council Election with the results confirmed at the Returning Office in Cootamundra.
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After election day was held on December 4 the fate of the 13 candidates, 11 of whom will sit on the next Hilltops Council, was finalised on Monday afternoon.
Turnout for voting surprisingly only sat at 82.46 per cent with 11,809 ballots counted out of a total of 14,321 enrollment.
Out of the 11,809 ballots 788 were deemed to be informal meaning out of a possible 14,321 locals only 11,021 votes were counted.
The 11 candidates who have been elected are:
- John Piper
- Margaret Roles
- Tony Hewson
- Tony Flanery
- Greg Armstrong
- Joanne Mackay
- Matthew Stadtmiller
- Alison Foreman
- Brian Ingram
- Mary Dodd
- Patrick FitzGerald
Greg Armstrong, Tony Hewson and Patrick FitzGerald were all elected despite not reaching the vote quota of 919.
John Niven was excluded from being elected on the tenth round of voting as he didn't have enough votes and John Horton missed out due to 'The distribution of the total votes of candidates would not change the elected candidate(s), therefore their exclusion did not proceed,' according to the NSW Electoral Commission website.
John Piper, Margaret Roles, Matthew Stadtmiller, Alison Foreman and Brian Ingram were elected on the first count of preferences.
Joanne Mackay was elected on the second count with preference votes distributed from Alison Foreman.
Tony Flanery and Mary Dodd were elected on the third count with the distribution of preferences from Margaret Roles.
Tony Hewson, Greg Armstrong and Patrick FitzGerald were elected on the tenth count after the distribution of preferences from Matthew Stadtmiller, Brian Ingram, John Piper, Joanne Mackay, Mary Dodd and Tony Flanery.
In round 10 of counting John Niven's preferences were excluded before Tony Hewson, Greg Armstrong and Patrick FitzGerald were elected.
The margin between Tony Hewson and the last un-elected/excluded candidate John Horton was 21.
The new Councillors will be inducted into their new roles at the next meeting of Hilltops Council which is expected to take place with an Extraordinary Meeting of Council which has been scheduled to be on Wednesday January 5, 2022, at the Hilltops Council Young Chambers commencing at 4.30pm.
The meeting will be available for viewing via live stream on the Hilltops Council website at www.hilltops.nsw.gov.au.
