After a long and tiring campaign, veteran councillor Fred Borg earlier this week headed down the south coast for a a spot of fishing and a bit of R&R to recharge the batteries.
He had easily been re-elected at Saturday’s Campbelltown Council elections, but at that stage it looked like getting his number two candidate up was going to be a very long shot.
But earlier today when the final count was complete the Totally Locally Committed Party found itself with two elected councillors, Fred Borg and well known businessman Warren Morrison.
“I am really ecstatic that we have achieved this,’’ Cr Borg said from his holiday home in South Durras.
“It’s a credit to the entire team.
“Warren is also very, very happy and I am sure he will do a very good job on the council over the next four years,’’ Cr Borg said.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“I am so grateful to the people of Campbelltown who respect what I have done.’’[/social_quote]
Councillor-elect Morrison could not be contacted for comment.
Another one who was feeling ecstatic after being elected was Ben Moroney, who will fly the Greens flag on the new council.
“I do feel great but I don’t think it has sunk in yet that I have been elected,’’ Mr Moroney said.
“Maybe it will finally sink in when the council GM calls me to formally tell me I have been elected.’’
The Greens councillor-elect said he was hopeful the decision to rezone land for a cemetery in Varroville would not be the last word on the controversial plans.
“It was a rezoning decision so I don’t think the issue is over by any stretch of the imagination,’’ he said.
The election saw the demise of Cr Sue Dobson, who had been on council since 1991.
That leaves Labor’s Meg Oates (1988) and independent Bob Thompson (1991) as the longest serving councillors.
The new council will be dominated by the Labor Party, which came within a whisker of getting eight of their candidates elected, a result which would have given them a majority on the 15 seat council.
But even with seven councillors, Labor leader George Brticevic is expected to be mayor for the full term of four years.
It will mean a measure of stability that was lacking in the previous council make up when four different mayors served a year each.
Independent councillor Paul Lake said he had congratulated Cr Brticevic and offered his vote to Labor to ensure they had the mayoralty for the next four years.
Cr Lake said he was a little disappointed he wasn’t able to get his young number two candidate, Josh Cotter, elected.
The councillors elected in the 2016 local government elections in Campbelltown are:
Labor: George Brticevic, Meg Oates, Darcy Lound, Margaret Chivers, Rey Manoto, Masood Chowdhury, Karen Hunt.
Liberal: George Greiss, Ted Rowell and Ralph George.
Greens: Ben Moroney.
Totally Locally Committed Party: Fred Borg and Warren Morrison.
Independents: Paul Lake, Bob Thompson.
