Tamworth Regional Council: vote on mayor and deputy mayor positions at first meeting of 2022

The mayor position has been hotly contested, with both councillors Russell Webb and Phil Betts announcing they will go head-to-head for the top job.

General manager Paul Bennett will act as returning officer for the vote, with the councillors first point of order to decide how they want to elect both mayor and deputy.

There's a couple of options on the table; a councillor has to first be nominated in writing by two or more others - if only one is nominated that person will be elected.

If more than one councillor is nominated, the whole group will then decide whether to move forward by preferential ballot, ordinary ballot or open voting.

A choice of ordinary ballot or open voting will see the councillors either mark ballot papers or raise their hands.

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If it's preferential, ballot papers with the names of the candidates will be dished out and councillors will mark them in order of who they want to lead them most.

But, if the candidates are tied for votes - the role of mayor and deputy mayor will simply be drawn out of a hat.

As the pandemic saw local government elections pushed back, the mayoral vote normally held in September every two years has had to be moved to January.

This means whoever is voted in as mayor will hold the job until January 2024.

The deputy mayor will only hold a nine-month term, another election will be held in September.

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