Clarence Valley Council election results show six new councillors

The Clarence Valley’s next crop of councillors has become clear as one of the new cohort leaves the door open for a possible tilt at the top job.

Likely new Clarence Valley councillors Jeff Smith and Allison Whaites are excited about their roles in the next council.

Clarence Valley Council is welcoming change after a long-awaited distribution of preferences confirmed six new councillors for the region.

The nine elected councillors from the December 4 poll, as listed on the NSW Electoral Commission website, are Jeff Smith, Debrah Novak, Ian Tiley, Allison Whaites, Bill Day, Greg Clancy, Peter Johnstone, Karen Toms and Steve Pickering.

Ms Toms and Mr Pickering were elected without reaching quota.

Their places were confirmed after a distribution of preferences on Monday.

Mr Smith received the largest number of votes with 19.64 per cent of first preference votes.

Likely new Clarence Valley councillor Allison Whaites says she can’t wait to bring transparency to the community.

Ms Novak received 11.81 per cent of votes and Mr Tiley received the third largest number of votes at 8.6 per cent of formal votes.

Mr Smith and Ms Novak reached above quota prior to Monday’s distribution of preferences but that didn’t stop Mr Smith visiting The NSW Electoral Commission Virtual Tally Room site as he awaited the result.

He was delighted about the emergence of six new councillors and was keen for some healthy competition translating to greater choices for the position of mayor.

“All the way through the election I heard people say they never saw most of the current councillors at anything ever,” Mr Smith said.

“So, I’d like to see is the councillors getting out and about more.

“My campaign proposal was to get a minibus and all the councillors, and the general manager to visit centres such as Glenreagh, Brooms Head, Copmanhurst for example, for a few hours.”

According to Mr Smith, the proposal would be more than a physical meet and greet as councillors would be able to witness first-hand what work needed doing in the communities.

Visibility and accessibility are values shared by another first-timer, Allison Whaites.

“I want to make sure all the nine councillors are out there in the community,” Ms Whaites said.

“We want to make sure we are there for our community, that we fight for our community and listen to them.”

While Mr Smith said he would not be vying for mayor, Ms Whaites did not rule it out.

“You need a mayor that is across every kind of marketing, social media and in the public eye attending events and standing up for the community,” she said.

The next step in the council election is the official declaration of results after expiry of 24 hours if a recount is not requested.

Councillors will then vote in the new mayor in the new year.