New Council to take Dorset out of neutral
Dorset’s new leadership team, Deputy Mayor Scott Auton and Mayor Rhys Beattie.
By Rachel Williams
Returned Dorset Mayor Rhys Beattie is keen to get some runs on the board for the new-look Council, which contains three new faces, three re-elected Councillors and one former face.
After 18 months in the top job, Cr Beattie admits it has been frustrating to have had progress stymied because so much time has been spent on structural and governance reform following the Board of Inquiry Ministerial Directions. He and his second in charge are determined to rectify the situation.
Cr Beattie has been given four more years to lead the municipality after a comprehensive win over first-time candidate Adam Hall.
Cr Beattie was returned as Mayor with 71.45 per cent of the vote over Mr Hall.
Springfield’s Scott Auton became Deputy Mayor with a strong performance against seven candidates, with 1646 first preference votes. His closest rival was Kahlia Simmons (793) closely followed by Beth Donoghue (726).
In the wash up of voting for the seven councillor positions around the table, Cr Beattie won 2.71 quotas in his own right, with 33.97 per cent of the total vote to be first elected.
Mr Auton was elected second with 17.42 per cent of the first preference vote.
Kahlia Simmons returns for another term after being elected third with 10.25 per cent followed by newcomer Adam Hall (9.86 per cent), former Councillor Beth Donoghue (6.56 per cent), incumbent Jan Hughes (4.64 per cent) and newcomer Grant Lethborg (3.24 per cent).
Incumbents Mervyn Chilcott, Vincent Teichmann and Anthony Richards all lost their seats while former Councillor Leonie Stein was unsuccessful in her bid to return.
Cr Beattie said he was incredibly proud of his personal result.
“It is a difficult job with no review process and the election is your review so it was a great result and there are a lot of areas I can improve on to do a better job for the community,” he said.
“We have been stuck in neutral dealing with the governance issues and we are at a point now where we have mended a lot of bridges and the government has communicated that they have full confidence in us.
“We need to get into first gear and take Dorset into the future.
“The biggest thing we will be doing early on is developing a term plan for the next four years of what we want to achieve and that will sit next to the Strategic Plan.
“We will have several sessions on it together and it will be tabled at a future Council meeting because some things will come from that discussion to replace some Strategic Plan items and could change the Priority Plan.”
New Deputy Mayor Scott Auton said he was humbled by the result and was ready to get on with the job and live up to expectations.
“Rhys and I polled over 50 per cent of the first preference vote so that is a real vote of confidence and an endorsement in us to lead the Dorset community and Rhys has stepped up over the last 18 months and done really well and hopefully I can follow in his footsteps,” he said.
“I agree with Rhys in getting into first gear but we have into get into third gear pretty quickly because since the inquiry we have been going around in circles stuck and stalled in governance and bureaucracy and we haven’t got anywhere. We have to get things happening.
“We have to spend money to get going but we have to spend the right money in the right places.
“We need to get some community back into the Council and get the right General Manager. Every council wants a great GM and we need one that understands the balance of a small community,” he said.
Mr Auton said he and his wife Fiona, the chair of the North East Tasmania Chamber of Commerce, would manage any perceived conflicts of interest.
“Just like we always have for 26 years. We debate and we will have our strong opinions and that is what makes us a great team.”
Cr Beattie said it was a positive to have a respectful election in Dorset compared to some other municipalities across Tasmania where candidates were embroiled in controversial and at times nasty personal battles.
He also acknowledged that the
reduction from nine councillors to seven might have created a less diverse group around the table and they would need to ensure all areas of the community were listened to and represented when making decisions.
The first meeting of the new Council will be on Monday, November 16.
In neighbouring municipalities, George Town has a new mayor with Greg Dawson taking the reins following the retirement of the well-respected Greg Kieser, while Rachel Summers and Mick Tucker retained their leadership roles in Flinders and Break O’Day respectively.