The composition of the new Kiama Municipal Council was announced on Friday, with six councillors from the previous term re-elected.
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Kiama municipality residents visited the polls for the local government elections on September 10.
Seven of the nine Kiama councillors from the 2012-16 term re-contested election.
The election featured 32 grouped candidates across six teams.
The new council in order of election is as follows: Mark Honey, Andrew Sloan, Matt Brown, Mark Way, Warren Steel, Mark Westhoff, Kathy Rice, Neil Reilly and Don Watson.
When preferences were distributed, there were 30 counts required to confirm the latter two as elected.
Crs Brown, Westhoff and Watson are the new faces.
The ‘Honey/Westhoff Team’ was led by Jamberoo dairy farmer Mark Honey, with Cr Westhoff second. The Greens ticket was headed by Cr Sloan and Cr Rice.
Former Kiama MP Matt Brown topped the Community and Labor ticket, with Cr Watson in second spot.
The total voter enrolment was 16,919, with a total turnout of 13,191.
The total informal ballot papers count was 573.
Regarding first preferences, the Honey/Westhoff Team topped the group vote with 3243 votes, or 25.7 per cent. The Greens also polled strongly, with 3009 votes, or 23.85 per cent. Community and Labor gained 2225 votes, or 17.63 per cent.
Cr Honey topped the list for votes of all candidates with 676. Cr Sloan was second overall with 351 primary votes, then Cr Brown with 291.
Cr Honey said he was “a little bit humbled” by the widespread support he received.
His goals for the next term included “to get the planning controls in Kiama under control so that we can keep the character of the town”, preserving town boundaries and promoting more innovative forms of agriculture.
Cr Rice was disappointed that she remained the only female Kiama councillor.
“There were a few women (candidates) who received quite good support in this election, but where they were positioned on the tickets was insufficient to get them elected,” she said.
“I feel it would have been valuable if the teams would have had more interest in gender equity.”
A long-time Gerringong resident and former school teacher, Cr Westhoff believed he could provide a, “level head, just looking at things… As best I can, just trying to do the best I can for the whole municipality”.
Gavin McClure, running as part of Cr Steel’s ‘Experience Counts’ team, didn’t win another term.
The new council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday evening to elect a mayor and deputy mayor. Crs Honey, Reilly, Rice, Way and Brown have expressed potential interest in the mayoral role.