Northern Beaches Council: Push for popularly elected mayor fails

A Sydney councillor wanted to see the public take over the role of electing the mayor – rather than being picked by councillors. Should mayors be popularly elected? Have your say in our poll.

Liberal councillor on Northern Beaches Council, David Walton, is pushing for a popularly-elected mayor and a radical reduction in the size of the council. Picture: Adam Yip/ Manly Daily

A push to give the public — and not the 15 councillors elected on the Northern Beaches — the right to choose who becomes mayor, has failed.

Liberal councillor David Walton wanted a popularly elected mayor to serve for four years and not face the prospect of being ousted between council elections.

In a bid for change, contained in a notice of motion put to Tuesday night’s full council meeting, Cr Walton also pushed for the number of councillors to be slashed to 12.

He also called for the division of the council areas into five wards to be altered to allow for only three wards, each represented by four councillors.

The motion comes as the council voted on the mayor’s position on Tuesday night in a contest between current mayor Sue Heins, from the Your Northern Beaches Independents team, and Liberal councillor Bianca Crvelin.

Cr Heins was voted back in as mayor.

Sue Heins, a member of the Your Northern Beaches Independents team, was voted in as the new mayor of the Northern Beaches, by fellow councillors, at a special council meeting on May 16. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

Cr Walton said his proposed changes would make the council more efficient and productive with a less cumbersome decision making process.

At the 2021 council elections in NSW, voters in just 35 of the 127 councils were able to directly elect their mayors.

“A directly elected Mayor would be in office for the full four-year term, which can give predictability for leadership, support long term planning and stability in the office,” Cr Walton said.

“Moving to a popularly-elected mayor would give residents an opportunity to consider mayoral candidates’ policies and vote accordingly.

“The community would better choose a mayor … to run the council in a way to ensure sound decision making for the whole community.”

Cr Walton pointed out that most councils in NSW had 12 councillors or less

“Having 15 councillors is unwieldy and unproductive and is not consistent with good practice in government.

If Cr Walton’s motion was passed, councillors such as former Northern Beaches Mayor Michael Regan, would serve four year terms in the top job. (AAP Image/Jeremy Piper)

“It would be a more nimble organisation.

“Mostly what makes a good governing body is centred around the skills, independence and diversity of the members.

“Having too many numbers on a board stifles effective debate, slows decision making and creates factions, which we’ve seen on the Northern Beaches Council.”

Cr Walton said having five wards tended to have councillors focus too much on issues affecting their wards and not on decisions that would benefit the wider council area.

If his motion was accepted, a referendum would have to be held at the September 2024 council elections asking on locals to vote on accepting the changes.

Residents and ratepayers would then not be able to vote for the mayor untilo the elections in 2028.