Sean Cunningham, Narrandera Argus

Narrandera’s voters have returned Narrandera Shire Council Mayor Neville Kschenka and Deputy Mayor Sue Ruffles to the new council, following Saturday’s Local Government Election.

Councillor Kschenka received the highest number of votes with 14.89 per cent of the formal votes, while Cr Ruffles attracted the next largest margin of votes with 12.86 per cent of the formal votes cast, according to the number of votes counted at the time of going to publication.

That is about the only thing that is certain with a number of votes and preference votes still to be counted.

The latest results, which are still to be finalised, show that as well as Crs Kschenka and Ruffles, previous councillors Braden Lyons, Peter Dawson, Tracey Lewis and Jenny Clarke look as if they will all be re-elected.

However, with a small number of votes separating them, Cameron Lander and Tracey Lewis could have a nervous wait on the final vote count to decide which of them will be successful and which one will fail to be re-elected.

The most recent update showed Tracey Lewis had secured 7.5 per cent of the counted votes while Cameron Lander’s tally so far was sitting at 7.33 per cent.

A previous councillor who threw her hat in the ring, but failed to be re-elected, was Narelle Payne, albeit Cameron Lander could be put in the same category depending on the final vote count.

Councillor Kschenka said it was a privilege to have been returned to council and that he had thought there would be some new councillors elected.

“It’s to be expected, there’s usually a couple of new faces elected at each election,” Cr Kschenka said.

“It’ll be a learning curve for those who haven’t been on council before.

“But, we’ve all had to do it at one stage or another.”

With many votes still to be tallied the final results could take some time to be determined.

“It’s very complicated and it’s a long, drawn-out process,” Cr Kschenka said.

“As far as I know the final result won’t be announced until October 1.”

Cr Kschenka outlined some of his focuses for his new term on council.

“Attracting industry is a prime aim so we can retain a younger population,” he said.

“That flows on to having more volunteers, more people playing sport for our local teams and more people supporting our existing shops.

“A focus will also be on new houses in Barellan.

“There’s a future for Barellan to progress, with its vicinity to employment opportunities.

“We’ll need to address our town water, we need to get some grant money to do that and the same goes for our flood mitigation plan.”

Health matters are also on Cr Kschenka’s agenda.

“As part of council’s ambitions, we want to retain our health service,” Cr Kschenka said.

“It’s not just a Narrandera issue, it’s statewide and maybe Australia-wide for rural regions, so we’ll continue to advocate for that as it’s so important.”

The newly elected councillors this time around, who will have a say in council’s decisions on a range of topics, appear to be Cameron Rouse, Bob Manning and Anthony Marsh.

Cr Manning got his wish when he said just a few weeks ago that the shire needed a change with some “fresh councillors”.

“Democracy is about discussion and solutions, not silent representatives, together we must discuss and all work as a team to achieve,” Cr Manning said.

He brings with him a background in business, which he said included dealing with finances and “ensuring internal auditing indicates ethical and legal requirements”.

He said he would focus on helping council tighten its expenses.

This article appeared in the  Narrandera Argus, 19 September 2024.