East Gippsland Shire Council has five new councillors.
On Monday the new council for the next four years was confirmed. Sonia Buckley, John White, Arthur Allen and the council’s most recent mayor, Tom Crook, were re-elected. They will be joined by new councillors Bernie Farquhar, Ian Trevaskis, Jodie Ashworth, Barry Davis and Joanne Eastman.
Cr Buckley was first elected receiving 3684 first preference votes.
Mark Reeves was the only previous councillor not re-elected among the 23 candidates. Mendy Urie, Trevor Stow, Jane Greacen OAM and Kirsten Van Diggle did not stand for re-election.
Mr Reeves had been a councillor since 2012 and had stints as mayor and deputy mayor during his tenure.
Councillor White is the most experienced member of new the council having first been elected back in 2016. He served as mayor during 2019/20.
Council chief executive officer Fiona Weigall congratulated the candidates on their election and thanked the unsuccessful candidates for standing for election.
“Our council is part of our community and our people live and work in our communities across East Gippsland,” Ms Weigall said.
“We can also see this in the geographic spread of our new councillors, who represent communities across our shire.”
The new council brings a mix of new and experienced councillors from across the shire. It includes three women and six men with a diverse range of interests and experience.
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East Gippsland Shire has a population of nearly 50,000 and covers more than 21,000 square kilometres or 10 per cent of the state, from west of Bairnsdale to the New South Wales border. Council delivers more than 100 services across the shire, including libraries, emergency management, roads, waste and recycling, arts and recreation, health, and local laws.
“I look forward to working with the new council to deliver our Council Plan 2021-25, then develop our next Council Plan – our blueprint for the next four years – to achieve their vision for our community,” Ms Weigall said.
Council will hold a Statutory Meeting to elect the mayor and deputy mayor (if the councillors seek to appoint a deputy mayor) on Tuesday, November 26, from 6pm.
