Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon to run for Division 1 seat at 2024 election

At least one new councillor will join the table in 2024 with a long-time elected rep to vie for a new Division, while several others have also been quizzed on whether they plan to fight for re-election.

At least one new councillor will be elected at the March 2024 elections with Division 6 councillor and Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon confirming he will be running for the Division 1 seat now held by Jess Milne.

Gympie’s council is going to be given at least one major shake-up at the 2024 elections, with one elected incumbent revealing he will be fighting for a new divisional seat.

Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon has revealed he will challenge for the seat Cooloola Coast-based Division 1, currently held by Jess Milne, after several years representing the Gympie region’s west.

Mr Smerdon owns property at Tin Can Bay.

He enjoyed his time out west but said “my future is now at Tin Can Bay and I would like to continue as a councillor and represent this area to the best of my ability”.

Jess Milne also confirmed she would be fighting to retain her seat.

After serving two terms as the Division 6 councillor, Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon is going to run for the Division 1 seat in 2024.

“My goal is not to be a career politician but a consistent community connection to council,” Ms Milne said.

The duel on the coast means at least one new councillor will be joining the table in 2024.

Several other councillors also revealed they would be throwing their hats back into the ring in 2024.

Mayor Glen Hartwig, Division 2’s Dolly Jensen, Division 4’s Bruce Devereaux and Division 5’s Dan Stewart said they would run for re-election.

Bob Fredman and Warren Polley were noncommittal, while Shane Waldock, did not respond by deadline.

The councillors held mixed views on how well they delivered on promises in the past three years.

Councillor Jess Milne said she will be running for re-election to the Division 1 seat she won in 2020, and her goal was not to be a “career politician”.

Mr Hartwig pointed to the council’s implementation of free green waste, the “resolution” of the council’s Rattler concerns by splitting from the train, its review of management and the ongoing live streaming of meetings as delivered election promises.

Mr Devereaux said he fell short on his “but I think I was true to attempting to make what I ran on priorities for our council organisation”.

“It feels like: A for effort. E for affect. Although delivery is probably more like a C-plus,” he said.

Mr Fredman held a similar view.

“It’s not necessarily anyone’s fault in my opinion, but I haven’t been able to get the things done that I wanted,” he said.

“We were hit with a difficult start, inheriting a challenging financial situation and internal culture, then Covid, then three floods, then a huge flood repair program that isn’t even halfway through yet.

Mr Smerdon said he did not like to make promises in the first place.

“I did however say I would work with the new council to turn around council’s financial position and better manage all council services,” he said.

Ms Milne said the promises she made were to be “open, honest and transparent and to connect the community to council through communication”.

Councillors held a mixed view as to how well they delivered on their promises from the 2020 election, with some saying Covid and the floods posed serious problems which could not have been foreseen.

But there was a vast distance between the pre-and-post election worlds.

“Looking back on my aspirations at election, they were pre-Covid impacts, pre-flood, pre-destruction of council structure and pre-worse staff survey I’ve seen,” Ms Milne said.

Mr Stewart said councillors had been forced to work within limitations.

“It is difficult for councillors to make promises as we are a small spoke in the wheel,” he said.

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It was “pleasing” to see Gap Rd and East Deep Creek Rd” have been or are being widened”, while Flood Rd was a “high priority”, he said.

Mr Polley said he was “very careful not to promise anything specific” as “I knew enough about the process to know that it would be difficult to deliver on promises”.

He was happy to see the Southside sewerage scheme back underway “despite being dead in the water due to budgetary blowouts”, as this was a project which had become tied to him during the election.

Mrs Jensen said her promises had been limited “except for going back to basics and doubling down on waste”.

“We all know how that went when I questioned the budget,” she said.

“I have discovered better ways of questioning and getting answers now.

“Whilst I don‘t think we’re fully on top of it, we’re a lot better off than when we started.”