After the first meeting of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council on Wednesday Tim Overall and Trevor Hicks were elected mayor and deputy mayor respectively.
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In what was at times a shambolic meeting the council chose their two leaders without issue.
Both men received seven of the possible 11 votes.
Cr Overall said it was time to start delivering projects for the community.
“What I’m really looking forward to is working with all the elected councillors to create a delivery program for the three years,” Cr Overall said.
“What is particularly different is the new council has received substantial funding from the state government in regards to a roads package and projects right across the region.”
Cr Hicks added that while he was proud to be elected to the role of deputy, it was more important to continue the daily work that often goes unnoticed.
“I just hope we’re not in the spotlight and you don’t hear from us much,” he said.
“If we’re out there doing our job we won’t be on the front page.
“That’s what being a councillor is all about, being hands on and amongst the people.”
Both the mayor and deputy agreed the council would represent the people of Palerang and addressed fears that the smaller population of Palerang would see it left behind.
“The issues that Palerang had will remain with this new council and they are the problems that we’ve got to overcome,” Cr Hicks said.
Cr Overall added: “We are all elected to represent the whole of the community.”
“There have been some concerns, particularly from Braidwood that they don’t have a representative.”
“Well that’s not correct, they have 11 representatives now.”
Despite the council comprising nine former councillors, confusion reigned at Wednesday’s meeting.
Councillors spent a significant portion of the evening deciding whether they were required to stand up or sit down when speaking and navigating other council procedures.
At one stage Pete Harrison asked for the meeting to enter committee mode which elicited a response from Cr Overall that in his 13 years on council he had never experienced that meeting protocol.
It was clear there were differences between how the former Palerang and Queanbeyan councils conducted meetings which encouraged Peter Marshall to request an information session so differences could be workshopped.
The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting called for the appointment of councillors to up to 74 committees operating within Queanbeyan-Palerang.
Many of the Queanbeyan councillors expressed confusion with the former Palerang committees and Brian Brown was successful in having committee appointments deferred to a future meeting after a workshop.
The next council meeting will be held on Wednesday 27 September at 5.30pm at the Bungendore Council Chambers.