Shoalhaven Council Greens mayor Amanda Findley explains reason not to run again

One of only two Greens mayors in NSW has explained why she has decided she will not stand for council at the upcoming local government elections.

Shoalhaven Council Mayor Amanda Findley announced she would not run for reelection in May this year.

One of only two Greens mayors in NSW has explained why she has decided she will not stand for council at the upcoming local government elections.

In May this year, Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley, announced she would not be running for re-election at the September after serving on council since 2008 including two terms in the top job.

Ms Findlay, 54, and Randwick Council’s Philipa Veitch are currently the only two Greens mayors across the state’s 128 LGAs.

The former Greens senate and state seat candidate said unprecedented natural disasters on the south coast had taken a toll on her mental health and took away time she could spend on regular mayoral duties.

Amanda Findley has been the Shoalhaven mayor for two terms.

“That takes its toll on people,” she said.

However, she said the position wasn’t just affecting her own wellbeing, but her family and friends as well.

Shoalhaven Council chambers.

“Your family suffers, your friends suffer, the people that you want to be spending time with, they don’t get to spend time with you.,” she said.

Ms Findley said she wanted to walk away from her 16 years of serving the Shoalhaven as a councillor and later, as mayor, before she felt “burnt out”.

“It’s been really good to have fantastic support from the community for making the decision I’ve made,” she said.

The move to not run for re-election comes after a rocky 12 months for the Shoalhaven – which spans south of Ulladulla and to Kangaroo Valley and Berry in the north – with Ms Findley leading her community through a controversial proposed rate rise.

While the mayhem including heated council debates and community scrutiny ended with a rate rise of four per cent, it could have been a far worse 44 per cent across three years, after an independent review in November last year by economic specialists AEC Group found the coastal council was not “financially sustainable”.

The decision to step down also arises after Ms Findley and the rest of council voted to increase their pay by a substantial amount in June last year, turning the mayoral position into a six-figure job, with a salary of $127,540.

However, Ms Findley believes her time as mayor will be remembered for only the good things.

“I could give you a shopping list of infrastructure that’s happened over the eight years,” she said.

“One thing that I am really proud of is the number of awards the Shoalhaven has won over the past few years in the area of waste and sustainability.”

While Ms Findley is not running for re-election, others in the community have announced their candidacy for the position, including well-known businesswoman Jemma Tribe.

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