It might be some time before new councillors are elected after a decision made at Armidale Regional Council's ordinary council meeting on Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Since June, four councillors have resigned, starting with Diane Gray, followed by mayor Simon Murray and deputy mayor Libby Martin, and finally Brad Widders.
A recommendation was put forward to dispense with a by-election to replace the vacancies caused by the resignations, as the Local Government Act allows for Council to dispense with a by-election if a vacancy occurs within 18 months of the next scheduled election.
Interim administrator Viv May expressed concerns with this recommendation.
"I have concerns with this recommendation because I am not convinced that the Armidale Regional Council community will be best served by part b of the recommendation [to dispense with a by-election]," Mr May said.
Mr May moved to defer a decision on whether to hold a by-election to elect four councillors to the ordinary council meeting on August 19 to take advice on the risk that full representative democracy is not served in the Armidale Regional Council local government area if the by-election is not held.
The next local government elections were set to be held in September, but have been postponed to September 4, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.