The leadership of the Upper Hunter Shire councillors will continue to be headed up by the same duo following the re-election of Councillor Wayne Bedggood as mayor and Councillor Maurice Collison as deputy mayor.
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The two councillors were re-elected to their former positions during an Extraordinary Council Meeting at the chamber on Monday evening.
The annual Mayoral Election was carried out by the general manager Waid Crockett as the returning officer with all but one councillor present.
Councillor Lee Watts was an apology to the meeting.
Both the councillors were re-elected unopposed, as there were no additional nominations to either of the positions.
The mayor and deputy mayor will carry out their respective duties steering the council’s leadership team of councillors for the next 12 months, which is the final year of the current council’s four year term.
After being re-elected, Cr Bedggood said he was pleased and comfortable to accept the role for the next 12 months, with the great support of the councillors and council staff.
Cr Bedggood thanked all of the councillors for their support over the past six months since initially being elected as mayor following the NSW State Election.
“The councillors are a great bunch to work with and they have made my job a fairly easy task, and parts of it very enjoyable,” he said.
“I am looking forward to the next 12 months, which is the last 12 months of our term as the current council and I believe some of the councillors will not be standing for election again next year.
“We have a number of projects started and progressing, so I hope to see some of those complete by the end of the term.”
Cr Collison was also pleased to be re-elected as he said it is an honour to be elected and to continue working alongside Wayne as mayor and continue their great working relationship.
“I will continue to support Wayne 100 per cent and we will do whatever we’ve got to do for the best of the community,” Cr Collison said.
“I believe we (the council) have had three good years to date, and we will keep rolling along and doing the best we can.
“There are no doubt challenges, but we’ve just got to deal with them as we go,” he said.
Mr Crockett delegated authority to the mayor and deputy mayor in their positions to complete the election process.
