SINCE nominations closed today it can be revealed nine current members of the Wanneroo council have nominated to run in the city’s extraordinary mayoral election.
Councillors Helen Berry, James Rowe, Linda Aitken, Frank Cvitan, Paul Miles, Sonet Coetzee, Vinh Nguyen and Glynis Parker as well as deputy mayor Brett Treby are all striving to replace former mayor Tracey Roberts, who resigned after being elected to the federal seat of Pearce in May.
Scott Wilkinson, Philip Couper and Charlotte Cleary are the other nominations.
Yanchep News Online understands the extraordinary mayoral election could cost the city more than $400,000 once all costs are accounted for.
The costs include an estimate of $320,000 (inclusive of GST) for the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) to conduct an extraordinary mayoral election by post.
Earlier this month Local Government Minister John Carey said the Local Government Act 1995 did not allow for the Minister to defer an extraordinary election other than in a local government election year after being asked if he would approve leaving the office of the Wanneroo mayor vacant until the next ordinary local government election in October 2023, with the deputy mayor exercising the powers of the mayor in the interim.
The Minister’s spokesman said Mr Carey was aware of the cost on ratepayers in relation to extraordinary elections and as part of a package of reforms currently being progressed, a new power would be created to allow vacancies on councils arising up to twelve months after an election to be filled by the next highest-polling candidate.
But this reform would not have altered the situation in Wanneroo as the mayoral vacancy happened more than 12 months after the election.
The extraordinary mayoral election count will be held on Friday, September 2.
