Murray River Council’s February meeting will see a return to a full nine-member council after a by-election in two wards resulted in uncontested seats on the local government authority for former Moama businessman Geoff Wise and Calimo station owner Dennis Gleeson.
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Mr Wise was voted back onto council after he retired prior to the 2021 election, for the Greater Murray ward, and Mr Gleeson was the only candidate for the Greater Wakool ward — hence taking the ninth seat on the NSW council.
Murray River Council returning officer Peter Kozlowski said because the number of candidates was less than the number required at the 2021 by-election Mr Wise and Mr Gleeson were elected without going to the polls on February 26.
The Murray River Council by-election was forced after only seven candidates put their hands up for council at the December 4 election.
All seven were duly elected, but a by-election to complete a full-nine member council was called soon after.
Prior to the return of Mr Ward and the arrival of Mr Gleeson the seven-member Murray Valley Council consisted of Tom Weyrich, Kron Nicholas, Deputy Mayor Nikki Cohen, Frank Crawley, Mayor Chris Bilkey, Neil Gorey and Ann Crowe.
The by-election was accompanied by a referendum question for the Murray River Council ratepayers, posing the question of the abolition of wards in the local government area.
The by-election was due to take place on February 26, with nominations closing last week, on January 27.
Murray River Council was not the only NSW council to not have sufficient candidates to form a council, the same scenario occurred in Cobar and Tenterfield local government regions.
Mr Kozlowski said Cobar and Tenterfield councils would go to the polls after multiple candidates had nominated for the by election.
Murray River Council ratepayers, while not having to vote on positions on council, did cast their vote on the question of wards in the Murray River region.
The Murray River Council referendum, a separate process, asked ratepayers for their opinion on the abolition of wards for the council.
The question posed at the referendum was “Do you wish to remove the three wards currently in place (Moama, Greater Wakool and Greater Murray with three Councillors elected within each ward), within Murray River Council to become an undivided Local Government Area?”
The Moama public vote was the closest of any polling booth, with 1269 votes cast and a 671-598 result against the proposed abolition of wards.
At all remaining polling booths the result was significantly in favour of maintaining the wards.
Only 10 of 206 votes at Moulamein voted in favour of the removal of wards, while 19 of 144 at Wakool and 25 of 162 at Murray Downs voted in favour of the proposal.
Numbers at Tooleybuc, Koraleigh and Bunnaloo were a repeat of the levels of opposition to the question, which ended up being 2139 for and 4067 against.
Mr Wise told the Deniliquin Pastoral Times he had been planning to retire after his first term on council, but as council did not find enough candidates he was “returning by popular demand”.
Mr Wise’s first council tenure was extended from four to almost five years following election postponements.
Mr Wise operates a childcare service in Echuca, and was a previous Mitre 10 Echuca franchisee.
‘‘It looks like I’ll be on council again, which was pretty easy,’’ he told The Pastoral Times.
Mr Wise said he was happy to be returning to council, and continue “giving back” to the community.
“I’ve already done my apprenticeship, so to speak, so it won’t be an issue serving another term, and I’m looking forward to helping people,” he said.
Mr Wise said his most notable contribution to Murray River Council in his first term was establishment of a daycare service at Barham.
‘‘We went out there and they gave us a list of things that the town needed,’’ he said.
‘‘On the very top of that list was daycare, and as I had some contacts in that area from my business in Echuca, I was able to use those networks to get it done.
‘‘It was extremely successful. I think at the moment they are actually at capacity, so expanding that service will be one of my key priorities moving forward.’’
Newcomer Mr Gleeson, of Calimo, will represent the Greater Wakool ward.
‘‘It was disappointing that I stood unopposed,’’ he said.
‘‘I think we could have done with a bit more interest out this way, but to be honest I think people are just burnt-out.’’
Mr Gleeson had attempted to stand in the December elections, but experienced technical issues with the NSW Electoral Commission’s online nomination process.
‘‘I probably did leave it a bit too late in retrospect, but with 10 minutes until deadline the app locked me out and I couldn’t complete my nomination,’’ he said.
Mr Gleeson re-enrolled following the announcement of the by-election.
He said he was happy to represent Wakool and would offer a rural and farming-focused perspective.
Currently operating a mixed-farming property spanning over 20,000 acres Mr Gleeson has been farming the local land since his family of 11 moved to Wakool in 1964.
He will advocate for the revitalisation of small and remote townships and for investment into regional infrastructure — vital to the local agricultural industry.
‘‘About a year ago you couldn’t even get fuel in Wakool,’’ he said.
‘‘The pub was closed, the cafe was closed. And though that’s getting better I want to see more done to support these communities.’’
The Murray River Council by-election followed a failed attempt at abolishing the region’s three wards.
The referendum was decided with 65.53 per cent of voters returning a decisive ‘‘no’’ vote, rejecting the proposal to abolish the wards and become an undivided council area.
Mr Gleeson said he was in favour of the decision.
‘‘You need representation in a place like this, otherwise everything would be decided over in Moama,“ he said.
‘‘I think the community was pretty unanimous in the decision to keep the wards.’’