Councillor Kellie Marsh re-elected unopposed as Shellharbour City Council Deputy Mayor

Long-time councillor Kellie Marsh has been re-elected unopposed into the role of Shellharbour City Council Deputy Mayor.

A newly elected council sat for the first time this term on Tuesday (22 October), with returning Mayor Chris Homer and first-time councillor Kane Murphy nominating Cr Marsh to the deputy role.

Cr Marsh, who is in Ward A and has been with council for four terms, has previously held positions of deputy mayor, mayor and councillor.

Before the announcement, Cr Marsh moved a motion for the deputy mayor role term to be for a period of one year, which was seconded by Cr John Davey.

Cr Rob Petreski said while there was not a requirement for a deputy mayor, he believed it was good in terms of providing some surety.

However, he said there was an opportunity to reset with the new council and spread the deputy role around.

“I note, in the last council, we had one deputy that was consistent all the way through,” he said, referencing Cr Marsh.

“But there’s actually a chance here where we could, for example, have a deputy mayor in Ward A, and then maybe in the next year Ward B, and Ward C, and Ward D.

“That way, we do two things. We make sure all our wards have fair representation, and the other thing we do is we spread the knowledge and the skill base around because succession planning is something some governments don’t do well, but it’s an opportunity we can do well.

“It’s something we can look for in terms of going forward throughout this term and have a real collaborative approach to this.”

In a statement released later, Cr Homer said there was a lot to look forward to with the new council and he was excited to work alongside Cr Marsh and the councillors as they embraced making the city all it could be.

“Having a strong, collaborative team is essential, and I know Cr Marsh will play a vital role in ensuring we deliver on our commitments,” he said.

“The community spoke loudly at the polls and resoundingly endorsed Cr Marsh. She will continue to be a wonderful deputy mayor and advocate for the people of Ward A.”

During the meeting, Cr Marsh also moved a motion that if any casual vacancies should occur when a councillor leaves within 18 months of the most recent council election, a ward by-election be held.

“We live in a democracy. We’ve all just gone through a local government election, and I’ve heard people say before that the community always get it right,” she said.

“I feel that it’s the community’s role, and it’s their opportunity to voice who they want as their councillors.

“I hope we’re not in this position, and we’re all healthy and happy and can do out the four-year term, but in the event that something does happen with one of my colleagues, I think it is up to the community.”

Having received strong support in Ward A herself, she said when looking at the vote there could be some sitting in the chambers who received only between eight and 10 per of the vote.

“That’s not the community overwhelmingly saying they want that person sitting here at the table to make decisions on their behalf,” she said.

“So I’m all for democracy, and I think we should have the community decide.”

While the motion was voted in, it was not supported by Crs Lou Stefanovski, Moira Hamilton and Petreski, after a question from Cr Stefanoski on the cost of a ward by-election revealed it to be about $200,000 to $300,000.

“I find that disappointing, the fact we were hoping we would commit to some sort of cost saving initiative and this is a fine example of how we could have done that in 18 months,” he said.

Cr Petreski said he was foreshadowing the countback option, having gone through a by-election in the previous term in Ward A and putting the community and council through a lot of work and expense then.

He said he would like to think those who were interested in running would have nominated, run and now be part of the results.

“If something were to happen to one of our councillors, I think most councils – and I believe we should too – go to a countback system where we don’t have to put the public through that kind of expenditure,” he said.

Cr Davey said he believed the principles associated with the democratic process outweighed the associated costs.

While Cr Marsh’s final rebuttal was that if council had the wrong councillor sitting around the table, that could potentially cost council a lot more than a by-election.