An election candidate who launched her campaign last year has announced she will stand as an independent for a seat on Orange City Council.
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Melanie McDonell was going to stand as a Greens candidate in the election on September 4 with the goal of replacing outgoing Greens councillor Stephen Nugent, who has said he will not stand this year due to personal reasons.
However, on Friday, Ms McDonell said she will stand as an independent leading a group ticket.
She said she is in the process of securing the extra candidates that are required for a party or group to be listed above the line in council elections.
"I've been involved in [the Environmental Sustainability Community Committee] for 10 years now and I've seen the good bits and I've seen the bad bits," she said.
"It's well and truly time for a change on council and more women on council.
"After 10 years on the side lines I thought it was time to change things for the better."
She said it was beneficial for boards and groups to have more diversity among their decision makers so the same would apply for Orange City Council.
Ms McDonell will remain a member of the Greens and said she plans to campaign on the same issues.
Those issues include improving the community's water security amid the increasing growth of Orange.
"There's a lot of talk about more dams, more dams but that's not going to fix the problem," she said.
She said a new dam could take years before it has an effect but a faster result would be introducing properly-treated recycled water for gardens.
Another issue she wants to address is the lack of footpaths and cycle paths in residential subdivisions.
As a result of the change, a campaign kick-off event that was planned for Saturday night has been postponed.
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