First Narrabri Shire Council meeting to be held on Tuesday

Seven new Narrabri Shire councillors will take their seats on Tuesday, January 11, for the first meeting of the new local government term.

Former mayor Ron Campbell and deputy mayor Cathy Redding, who were both part of the previous council, will be joined by new councillors Greg Lamont, Robert Browning, Darrell Tiemens, Lisa Richardson, John Clements, Brett Dickinson and Rohan Boehm.

Mr Campbell, Mr Lamont and Mr Browning were elected on first preferences.

The remaining six positions were determined after preferences were distributed.

Final first preference votes for all candidates were 1816 for Group A, 650 for Group B, 1135 for Ron Campbell, 575 for Darrell Tiemens, 458 for Lisa Richardson, 423 for John Clements, 361 for Cathy Redding, 352 for Brett Dickinson, 274 for Ronald (John) Tully, 226 for Cameron Staines, 178 for Ron Campey, 167 for Lloyd Finlay, 166 for Les Knox, 145 for Maryanne McDonald and 116 for Crystal Dwyer.

Tuesday’s meeting will see the election of mayor and deputy mayor. The 1pm meeting will be preceded by an ‘orientation’ and information session in the morning.

The new council term will be shorter – council elections are normally held every four years, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic they were twice postponed. This means that the councils elected on December 4, 2021, will serve a shorter term, so that the elections in September 2024 will occur as scheduled.