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| Frank Pearce |
"Following the resignation of Councillor Rachel Power on 1 October 2019, a recount was completed today to fill a vacancy on the Derwent Valley Council," Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Andrew Hawkey said.
"Six eligible candidates nominated to contest the recount. Frank Pearce has been elected as councillor to serve until the 2022 ordinary elections," Mr Hawkey said.
Mr Pearce, who served as a councillor from 2014-18, is also a former general manager of the Glenorchy City Council.
He returns to a council which has been beset by controversy since last year's annual general meeting, including the resignations of two councillors.
Six eligible candidates from last year's election contested today's recount, all of them being former councillors or former council officers: Philip Bingley, James Graham, Chris Lester, Tony Nicholson, Frank Pearce and Wayne Shoobridge.
Mr Graham was in the lead for most of the recount, until votes redistributed from Mr Lester pushed Mr Pearce over the line.
Mr Pearce polled 72 primary votes in last year's council election, finishing 15th out of the 18 candidates. The purpose of today's recount was to determine which candidate would be elected to council from the votes which had originally elected Mrs Power. After 25 counts, Mr Pearce ultimately received 209 votes, ahead of Mr Graham who received 195.
First preference figures from the 2018 council election were as follows:
BELCHER, Paul 854 (ELECTED 1ST)
SHAW, Ben 847 (ELECTED 2ND)
TRIFFETT, Julie 473 (ELECTED 3RD)
EVANS, Martyn 232 (ELECTED 6TH)
POWER, Rachel 230 (ELECTED 5TH - RESIGNED OCTOBER 2019)
COSGROVE, Jessica 215 (ELECTED 4TH)
LESTER, Chris 195
SALT, Anne 184 (ELECTED 8TH - RESIGNED JUNE 2019)
BROWNING, Luke 171 (ELECTED 7TH)
HILL, Matthew 145
GRAHAM, James 142
HALL, Kristy 131
BINGLEY, Phillip 98
WOODS, Natasha 83 (ELECTED 9TH BY RECOUNT, JULY 2019)
PEARCE, Frank 72 (ELECTED 10TH BY RECOUNT, OCTOBER 2019)
NICHOLSON, Tony 61
LATHEY, Barry 57
SHOOBRIDGE, Wayne 39
I'm quoting this by R. Power to give the context for my comments to this story.
ReplyDelete"She said all of the councillors were probably wondering why they had sought election last year, but she was resigning for her personal health and the health of her family. "I've lost two close family members in the last few months and I don't have enough passion to keep going when people tear me down. Not any more. It will come back, and who knows then." Wed. Oct. 2nd. 2019 New Norfolk News.
The question WHY and "It will come back" became the framework from which I would begin to formulate my decision on how to answer the question when I would receive the phone call. The call-in this situation is about participating in the recount. When listening to the radio interview & then seeing the words 'wondering', 'passion' & ..".it will come back" it all struck a chord deep inside me. It is really hard to explain.
So against that backdrop, the passion is still there I have never wondered WHY combined with the fact that my number might help out one of the others I said YES I'm IN. The Mayor put in words of how fortunate we are as a community to have Cr. Frank Pearce back in the room.
I captured this from Mayor Shaw...
"Happy today to learn that Frank Pearce has been elected back on to the council, following Rachel Power Resigning.
I’ve called Frank today to congratulate him and he is looking forward to working with the team.
Frank is a strong councillor who I served with from 2014-2018 and was a very big part of why we were able to turn around our financial situation and better understand our financial risks and obligations for the future.
Frank brings loads of local government experience to the table and I’m sure will hit the ground running.
Welcome back, Frank". Mayor B. Shaw FB 14/10 2019