September 12 2017

The counting has been concluded and the results are in and following are members of the ERC.

Norm Brennan
Pat Fogarty
Ashley Hall
Peta Betts
Mac Wallace
Norm McAllister
Margaret Bull
Peter McCrabb
Nick Metcalfe

The Council is packed with experience with five ex Conargo Shire Councillors in Norm Brennan, Mac Wallace, Norm McAllister, Peter McCrabb and Nick Metcalfe

Pat Fogarty and Ashley Hall served as Deniliquin Council Councillors and Ashley Hall was also the administrator of the ERC until elections could be held this year.

Peta Betts and Margaret Bull were not part of either Deniliquin Council or Conargo Shire between 2012 and 2016, this could serve the ERC well as they will bring both a new perspective and new ideas to the table.

The election turnout was 82.07% and out of the 5,269 votes cast, 182 (3.45%) of those votes were informal and the quota for a candidate to be elected was 509.

A total of 15 counts were required to elect the Council as the predicted system of preference distributing and candidate exclusion became true.

8 of the 9 candidates were elected by reaching quota, the ninth (Nick Metcalfe) was elected as nobody else could reach his total amount of votes.

How they were elected
Norm Brennan and Pat Fogarty were elected after the first count
Ashley Hall was elected after the second count
Mac Wallace was elected after the eighth count
Norm McAllister and Margaret Bull were elected after the eleventh count
Peter McCrabb and Peta Betts were elected after the thirteenth count
Nick Metcalfe was elected after the fifteenth count

Congratulations to all elected members of the ERC and commiserations to those who were not elected, we hope that they will continue to be a voice in the community for many years to come.

The story isn’t quite over yet, a Mayor will have to be picked and based on votes Norm Brennan would have a pretty strong case then it is time to get to work as roads need smoothing, recycling needs to be reality and the many more jobs needing to be done among the many wants, needs and desires of the people of the ERC.