Tamworth council elections: competition tight as preferences set to decide last spot on council

At the time of writing Mark Rodda, Bede Burke, Marc Sutherland, Russell Webb and Labor's Stephen Mears were certain to be elected, while Phil Betts, Helen Tickle and Brooke Southwell all appeared likely to join them.

However, the race for the ninth position remains very close, with up to six candidates still holding a chance of claiming the spot.

Just 167 votes separate Charles Impey, who currently leads the race and Marjolijn Thomas who's ranked 14^th for primary votes.

Judy Coates, Laura Hughes (Labor ticket), Ray Tait and incumbent Jim Maxwell are the others vying to be part of council for the next term.

Mr Tait has been the big mover over the past week, having jumped within 80 votes of Mr Impey.

Having been on council in the past, he told the Leader nerves hadn't got the better of him, but did admit things were looking a lot better now than a week ago.

"There's a light at the end of the tunnel. I must admit last Saturday night it was flickering, but now it's got a bit of a low glow to it," he said.

"No one stands for council that doesn't mean well for the Tamworth regional area and people want to get amongst it, and sometimes when the results come back they're not exactly flattering.

"But that doesn't detract from the fact that they're decent people and some of them just worry more than I do, I've resolved to the fact that what happens, happens."

He said he knew there would be some 'givens' to get reelected, leaving less primary votes for those lower down, and said he had been surprised by the popularity of Mr Sutherland, even though he did expect him to do well.

Mr Impey, who is seeking to retain his seat at the table, said while he knew there was strong competition, he was surprised to see his primary vote drop significantly on his results at the 2016 election.

He said a number of factors may have contributed to this, but was proud to have not sacrificed his beliefs in order to win votes.

"I mentioned that I was hoping council could do a little bit more in the renewable energy space, and I have a funny feeling that may have scared some people off," he said.

"Because there's a lot of people that don't like renewable energy still and think it's a waste of money.

"But I'm a big fan of it, so I need to stand on my laurels there because I think it has to happen."

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He also believes some newcomers may have taken a fair share of his primary votes. Mr Impey said he polled reasonably well in Coledale last election, but likely had many of his votes taken by Mr Sutherland this time around.

While disappointed he said it was understandable, and spoke highly of the new councillor who is a former student of his.

In fact, he was full of praise for the overall pool of candidates in this election, and said it was full of well-known, community-minded people, which was stronger than the lineup he faced in 2016.

But he thinks the wave of new candidates making big promises also impacted his popularity, and said the bureaucracy of local government means it's often difficult to enact sweeping changes.

"When you run for local government you can't have particular policies because local government doesn't lend itself to policies, and anyone that knows about local government will know that," he said.

"So when people go out there and promise things, people go 'oh that sounds great, we want someone fresh who can promise this, that and the other', but you can't do that on local council."

He said something as simple as fixing a road can require the support of four other councillors, and negotiations with the general manager and director of infrastructure over budget allocations.

Despite having to deal with all of that red tape, Mr Impey said he is still hopeful of serving on the next term and will be keeping a close eye on preferences, which he believes he may receive a decent share of, after conversations with people on polling day.

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