COUNCILLORS Kim O’Keeffe and Rob Priestly were elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Greater Shepparton City Council on Monday.
Cr O’Keeffe replaces Cr Seema Abdullah as outgoing Mayor, and will serve her third term in the role (her fourth term in an office bearing role, as she has previously served one term as Deputy Mayor).
In a tense meeting on Monday afternoon, four of the nine councillors nominated for the top job: Councillors Seema Abdullah, Rob Priestly, Fern Summer and Kim O’Keeffe.
Needing an absolute majority of five votes to be elected, no candidate received more than three votes in the first round of voting. It was Cr Abdullah who received three votes, while the other three candidates received two each.
With no one candidate receiving the least votes, the process then required names to be drawn from a hat – in this case a metal tin – in which one of the three candidates with the least votes would be eliminated by chance. Cr Rob Priestly was eliminated, and the process went back to the vote.
In the second round of voting Cr Abdullah received three votes, Cr O’Keeffe four, and Cr Summer two. Still requiring an absolute majority, Cr Summer was eliminated and councillors voted between Cr Abdullah and Cr O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe took six votes to Cr Abdullah’s three, and took up her spot in the Mayoral chair at the front of the meeting.
For the deputy position, Cr Priestly was the sole candidate and was elected.
Speaking later, Cr O’Keeffe described the meeting as “nerve wracking” but also spoke of the wonderful optimism this Council had, and that it was a positive sign so many councillors had put their hand up for the top job.
Interestingly, and although unrelated, the result reflects the public’s voting preferences. Cr O’Keeffe was overwhelmingly voted back into Council at this month’s election. The next most popular candidate was Cr Priestly.
Cr O’Keeffe paid tribute to Cr Abdullah, saying, “I’d like to thank Cr Abdullah for her past 12 months in the Mayoral role. It has been an incredibly difficult year and Cr Abdullah did an incredible job, so thank you to Cr Abdullah for everything she has done for our community.”
Both Mayor and Deputy Mayor will serve a one-year term before going to another Council vote next November.
