North Burnett Mayor declared as sitting councillor Les Hotz

Almost two weeks after the local government elections, the Electoral Commission of Queensland has declared the new North Burnett Mayor. Meet the region’s new leader:

The Electoral Commission of Queensland has declared sitting councillor Les Hotz the new North Burnett Mayor.

Assistant Electoral Commissioner Wade Lewis said of the five candidates contesting the by-election, Cr Hotz received nearly 58 per cent of the formal votes.

“Following both the preliminary and the official first preference counts, Les Hotz and John Bowen were the two leading candidates, so it was clear the full distribution of preferences would be required to determine the outcome,” Mr Lewis said.

“Tuesday, February 1 was the deadline for the return of postal votes and the next day ECQ election staff conducted the full preference count with scrutineers in attendance.

“This full allocation of voters’ preferences saw Cr Hotz move ahead in the count and be elected the next Mayor of North Burnett.”

The Electoral Commission of Queensland has declared sitting councillor Les Hotz the mayor of North Burnett Regional Council.

Mr Lewis said at this full postal by-election around 7200 votes were sent to enrolled electors with close to 5,000 formal votes accepted into the count.

“Electors in North Burnett have had full postal ballots for all council elections since 2008,” he said.

In the next few months, North Burnett electors will have to vote in another by-election replace the division 2 councillor.

The mayoral by-election was triggered by the shock resignation of Rachel Chambers, which became effective on December 11 last year.

Prior to her resignation, Ms Chambers led the Between a Rock and a Hard Place community consultation tour across Gayndah, Biggenden, Eidsvold, Monto, Mundubbera and Mt Perry, which revealed grave budgetary concerns for the North Burnett region.