Cr Reg Kidd has become the first popularly elected mayor of Orange City Council after a long day of counting.
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Cr Kidd was declared the winner by 1075 votes from Cr Russell Turner when preference allocation finished after 5pm on Wednesday.
The votes of all other eight mayoral candidates had to be distributed before Cr Kidd gained the necessary margin for victory.
He polled 7159 votes to defeat Cr Turner who received 6084.
Cr Kidd was mayor, elected by council, in 2008-2009.
The election of the remaining 11 councillors to make up the next council is likely to be decided by a preference allocation on Thursday.
Cr Kidd said on Monday he would put basic council infrastructure, including roads, footpaths, rates and rubbish collection as his priorities for his three year term.
“Everybody uses the roads and the footpaths and I think its time we have really got to concentrate on getting that basic infrastructure right,” Cr Kidd said.
David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
