Council
15 November, 2024
Clark, Aitken new councillors
Tony Clark and Roger Aitken will represent the residents of the North Ward on Hindmarsh Shire Council for the next four years.
The pair were declared elected on Friday afternoon, when the Victorian Electoral Commission released the final figures for Hindmarsh voting in last month’s state election.
Police officer Mr Clark, of Rainbow, was the first candidate elected, with 40.72 per cent or 430 first-preference votes from the 1056 formal votes cast in North ward.
Mr Aitken, also of Rainbow, polled 36.74 per cent, or 388 individual votes.
The pair finished ahead of Elizabeth Chivell, with 22.54 per cent (238 votes).
As incoming members of Hindmarsh Shire Council, they join newly elected East Ward councillors Chan Uoy and James Barry, elected with 53.73 per cent and 26.07 per cent of votes, respectively, and the West Ward’s Cr Ron Ismay and Rosie Barker, who were unopposed.
Cr Ismay is the only sitting councillor returned to office, having made the switch from East to West Ward.
Voter turnout in the North ward, whose major population centres are Rainbow and Jeparit, was 1098 people from the 1292 enrolled (84.98 per cent).
Forty-three informal votes were detected by the scrutineering team.
Hindmarsh Shire Council met yesterday evening in Nhill to choose its next mayor.
The first monthly meeting of the new council will be held on November 27.