• Home
  • Articles
    • Front Page
    • General Interest
    • Snippets
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Council Comments
  • Competitions
    • Sydney Royal Easter Show Giveaway
  • Our Community
    • Our People
    • Question of the Week
    • Jobs in the Central West
    • Be Seen
    • What’s On
    • What’s Hot
  • Features
    • Women in Business
    • Rural Round Up
    • My Place
    • Loving Local Living
    • Wellness Wise
    • Just a Short Drive
    • Real Estate
  • Sports
    • Bowls
    • Cricket
    • Equestrian
    • Footy Tips
    • Golf
    • Netball
    • Rugby League
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
    • Touch Football
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Page
    • Advertise with us
    • Testimonials
    • Submit an Article
    • Subscribe to the Forbes Phoenix

Forbes Phoenix

Home » A Decision Has Been Made – Cr Phyllis Miller Is Our Mayor

A Decision Has Been Made – Cr Phyllis Miller Is Our Mayor

September 10, 2015 By Maggi Barnard

11953413_921798057886468_5502858081298170573_o

Following on from the Council Meeting on Tuesday 1st September, an extraordinary meeting was held on Monday 7th September at 8.30 am. At this meeting, the names of the two Councillors who were tied in the earlier vote were entered into a hat and Brian Steffen, GM, Forbes Council pulled a name from the hat, with Cr. Phyllis Miller’s name
being read out.

Prior to this happening, so that everybody present could be well informed, Cr. Graeme Miller, the other Councillor whose name was in the hat, queried the reasons behind the GM’s decision to go down this course of action.

His request was based on considerable discussion within the town about what was right and what was wrong with the process and to clarify the reasons behind the decisions made. Brian Steffen, General Manager and Returning Officer for the Mayoral Election said, “Following on from legal advice from Marsdens Lawyers, Corporate Solicitors
for the Council, the Local Government Association of NSW and the NSW Office of Local Government, there were three options available to the Council:

1. The Council could leave the decision with the vote of the lst September
2. The Council could hold another election
3. The Council could put the names in a hat and draw out the new mayor’s name.

All options were advised could be open to legal challenges, and the advice from the Lawyers was that the first two options would survive a challenge whereas with the 3rd option it would be highly unlikely that a challenge would be successful.”

Brian Steffen said, “He had to ensure that the correct procedures were undertaken at all times and this is why he needed time to seek the best advice possible. The decision to draw a name out of the hat is not one made by the Returning Officer, however is a requirement of the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government Regulations of 2005. It states – where there are two candidates with the same number of votes, the announcement is done by a lot draw.”

Cr. Phyllis Miller said: “This has been an extremely stressful time and was one of the most difficult in her life over the past 20 years in local government.” She commented: “Let’s move forward as a team and do the job that
we have been elected to do by our constituents. We have nine Councillors working for the town of Forbes, with a range of skills and capabilities from not only our Councillors but also the staff at the Council.”

Cr. Graeme Miller, was elected Deputy Mayor, with the other two nominees withdrawing, in Graham Faulkner and Jeff Nicolson. Cr. Graeme Miller said that he looked forward to working with Phyllis and congratulated her on
her re-election as Mayor.

Filed Under: Articles, Front Page

Latest Print Editions

Click here to download the recent issue (336) of The Forbes Phoenix (1.4MB) – 20th May 2022 

STAY CONNECTED

The Forbes Phoenix would like to thank you, our Facebook friends, for your continued support and readership!

SEARCH THE PHOENIX

Recent Articles

  • AFL May 20, 2022
  • Croquet May 20, 2022
  • Forbes Squash Co-Hosts Successful State Tournament May 20, 2022
  • Giant Effort To Stage ‘Big The Musical’ May 20, 2022
  • Hot Air Balloon Ride Lifts Spirits Sky High May 20, 2022

CONTACT THE PHOENIX

Address
7/113-127 Rankin Street, Forbes NSW 2871

Editorial Phone – 0455 143 636
editor@forbesphoenix.com.au

Sales Phone – 0459 086 023
sales@forbesphoenix.com.au

View our Privacy Policy.
View our Conflict Resolution Process.
View our Ethics and Complaints Policy.
Want to advertise with us?
Information on our Community Promotions.

Submit an Article

We are always looking for new articles of interest to the local community.

Please feel free to submit an article for possible inclusion in a future issue.

To submit an article, click here to use our online article submission form.

Recieve the Phoenix via email

* indicates required

Copyright © 2022 · Website setup by WebSysMan