The race for mayor has at long last been decided for Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Scenic Rim regional councils.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland has declared Tanya Milligan as the Lockyer Valley Mayor, Jason Wendt as Mayor of Somerset Regional Council and Tom Sharpe as Mayor of Scenic Rim Regional Council.
It comes after the ECQ had to wait 10 days for postal votes to arrive to determine the outcome of the March 16 election.
Here’s what our three local Mayors had to say after winning the vote:
Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan
Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan is back for another term in the top job.
It comes after she received nearly 45 percent of the vote.
Cr Milligan had to wait for the win as it was a close race between Maree Rosier and Kyle Burnett, who had done a deal for optional preferences.
Mayor Milligan said that she is really is relieved that the seat has been declared.
“It’s the waiting that’s the most painful in the whole process, it’s nice that it’s been decided,” she said.
“It’s now head down, bottom up and get stuck into the next four years ahead.”
Mayor Tanya Milligan also explained what’s she plans to do next after retaining the seat.
“For me it’s really important to build relationships with the four new councillors at the table.
“Some of the projects the former term of council had been working on, I think I will progress those but it’s really important to follow up on the comments and issues that were raised during the campaign.
“And by that, I mean the conditions of our roads, the efficiency of council and communications,” she said.
Tanya Milligan has been a councillor and in local government since 2000.
Somerset Mayor elect Jason Wendt
Jason Wendt is now Somerset Regional Council’s new Mayor.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland declared the win after Mayor Wendt beat candidate Sean Choat with 61 percent of the vote and just over 85 percent counted.
He replaces former Mayor Graeme Lehmann who retired from politics after serving for more than 20 years.
Somerset Mayor Jason Wendt said it will be a big job to take over from former Mayor Graeme Lehmann as they are very big shoes to fill.
“The council is in a very good financial position but I’ve got a lot of new councillors on board and they are very excited about change and really getting on with the issues that the community want to talk about,” he said.
Jason Wendt, who was previously a Somerset councillor as well as vet and local business owner, also believes the biggest issues coming into the term is roads, infrastructure and urban expansion.
Scenic Rim Council Mayor elect Tom Sharp
The Scenic Rim has elected Tom Sharp as the region’s new Mayor.
He replaced incumbent Mayor Greg Christensen in the role after receiving more than 12,500 votes after 84 percent of the vote was counted.
Mayor Sharp was born in Beaudesert and grew up on a dairy farm at Canungra.
In his career, he worked for Paul Morgan & Co. Stockbrokers and as a trader in the Sydney Stock exchange.
Meanwhile, Scenic Rim Mayor Tom Sharp said he plans to rollout a number of policies once sworn in to council.
“One of my policies is to restore that authority to the councillor elected to represent them, not the unelected bureaucrat making the decisions on spending their money,” he said.
“The second policy is very much about Budget reform and financial discipline.
“The feedback from the people that I have garnered is that Scenic Rim Regional Council has a very top heavy administration and that their rates are not being managed wisely,” he said.
“Thirdly there’s been cultural issues within this council, so bad that in the last term a state advisor was appointed.
“One of the goals is to very much remove the toxic culture embedded within the council and hopefully restructure, rethink, reeducate this council to think less about themselves and more about the people they serve,” he said.
To see the results of the local government elections visit ECQ’s website https://www.ecq.qld.gov.au
