Howlong’s Cheryl Cook will be Federation Council’s mayor through to September 2026, as decided on Tuesday at council's extraordinary meeting.

Redlands farmer Rowena Black was elected unopposed as Deputy mayor for the same two-year period.

The mayor’s position was decided by a very close 5:4 vote.

Councillor David Bott moved a motion that voting be done by the showing of open hands, rather than a secret ballot.

“It’s a great opportunity, right from the outset, to be open and transparent with the community,” he reasoned.

There were two nominations for mayor. Voting showed councillors Black, Susan Wearne, Pat Bourke and Andrew Kennedy supporting Cheryl Cook.

Supporting Councillor Derek Schoen were councillors Bott, Richard Nixon and David Harrison.

Upon her election, Mayor Cook said she intends to bring a positive and balanced approach to her leadership, with a strong desire to see a strong team working for the best outcome for all.

“It is expected and somewhat necessary that the newly elected nine councillors will want to make some corrections, but we must be mindful to incorporate some of the tough decisions, previously made in the chamber this past term,” she said.

“We must also address the 72 recommendations made by the esteemed Professor Drew and his collegiate team who spent months assessing the financial impacts of the 2016 merger of the former Corowa and Urana Shires. Not doing so would be a waste of enormous time, effort and expense.”

Mayor Cook said that, sadly from December 2021 to August 2023 Howlong endured stalled development due to water pressure issues and the financial impact was significant to far too many, including developers, builders, trades, landscape and fencing contractors, plus the loss of trade for local food services in town.

“This can not happen again for any of Federation’s townships, and it’s well past the time for State and Federal Governments to take our hardworking rural regions more seriously and cough up with funding to replace aged and outdated water and sewerage infrastructure in all of our towns,” she said.

Mayor Cook acknowledged the work of previous councillors working under unmitigated circumstances during the past few years, which included the Covid-19 Pandemic and the 2022 flood disaster throughout the shire. Her husband Kevin described her selection as excellent adding: “She has a lot to offer.”

Mayor Cook and Deputy Mayor Black thanked councillors for their support in their new roles. Deputy Mayor Black said she was excited with the new role and acknowledged council is facing a challenging time.

It is a new-look Federation Council comprising a new mayor and deputy and an overall six new councillors. Councillors Bourke, Kennedy and Black are the only councillors from the previous council.

Federation Council’s nine councillors were sworn in by Council’s General Manager Adrian Butler with many family members present in a near-packed council chamber.

“Congratulations to all councillors on your election to Federation Council and we look forward to working together,” Mr Butler said.

In other news, Cr Black is to be the council delegate to the Audit Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC), with Cr Schoen the alternate delegate.

Operational since 2017, the objective of the ARIC is to provide independent assurance to Federation Council by monitoring, reviewing and providing advice about the council’s governance processes, compliance, risk management and control frameworks, external accountability obligations and overall performance.

The next meeting of the ARIC is this Friday, October 18 where they will consider the draft financial statement for the year ended June 30, 2024.

The question of the Special Rate Variations (SRVs) will be decided at council’s first ordinary meeting, Tuesday, October 22.

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