Mayor Michael Pearce and deputy mayor Bob Crouch ran unopposed and retained their roles.

When Cr Pearce vacated the mayor’s chair for the vote, he joked about sitting with the press until election was determined. 

Guyra councillors were also happy with their leadership team re-electing incumbents Hans Hietbrink as mayor and Audrey McArdle as deputy. 

Both were unopposed. 

Following the Uralla election, councillors discussed the possibility of changing the times of the meetings to accommodate people in the community who work and allow for more presentations before the Council.      

Councillors decided to change the meeting times to 5pm to 8pm during daylight saving and 4pm to 7pm out of daylight saving.

The original motion proposed by Cr Leanne Cooper, who wanted to see the meetings start at 6pm, rather than 12pm.

She said it would help attract younger people to Council meetings and work better for people who worked full-time. It would also be more convenient for her attending meetings. 

Her motion was narrowly defeated, four to five, while six councillors agreed with the daylight saving time changes for meetings.

“I appreciate it, but it really makes no difference to me [the meetings] being at 4pm or 5pm,” Cr Cooper said.

“I’ll either have to take annual leave or sick leave or be exceptionally late to meetings.”