LOCAL government elections will start to heat up with nominations for elected members closing midday today for candidates for Mount Gambier City and Grant District councils.
Both councils have already received a string of nominations for what is shaping up to be a highly contested community plebiscite.
Voting will be via postal ballot, with ballot papers distributed in late October.
While nominations began slowly for the councils, there has been a flurry of candidates lodging their paperwork in recent days.
At least 11 nominations have been lodged for Mount Gambier City Council, while Grant council’s central ward has already attracted nine contenders.
“We have been inundated this morning,” city council governance manager Michael McCarthy said yesterday.
“On Friday we had seven nominations for council and two for the mayoral position and today we have received another four or five for council.
“I urge people who intend to nominate not to leave it until the last minute as that leaves no room for error.
“Any problem could result in a failed application, in which case they will be unable to nominate again until 2022.”
At least three incumbent city council elected members will not contest the November election.
Cr Penny Richardson, Cr Des Mutton and Cr Mark Lovett have indicated they will retire from council at the end of this term.
At print time yesterday, current mayor Andrew Lee and Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce president Lynette Martin were the only two in the running for the mayoral position.
Grant District Council’s election is being thrown open with three sitting members not re-contesting to gain a position.
Deputy Mayor Brian Collins OAM – who has been an elected member for more than 20 years – will step away from local government.
Port MacDonnell councillor Greg Saunders and fellow elected member Graham Slarks will also not seek another term on the rural council.
The election for mayor is also likely to be tightly contested with incumbent councillor Alan Hill challenging long-serving mayor Richard Sage.
Grant District Council chief executive officer David Singe urged aspiring councillors to lodge their nominations as early as possible this morning to ensure their forms were accepted.
“It is really important people put in their nomination as soon as possible,” Mr Singe said.
He said the ideal council election would represent a diverse group of people to reflect the various interests of the community.
“The CEO’s role is to sit and wait to see what comes in – there are at least three vacancies in the central ward,” he said.
The council also has Port MacDonnell and Tarpeena wards.
Local Government Association president Sue Clearihan said increasing the diversity of the local government sector was a focus for the organisation and its members.
“Without the hurdle of a party-political system, nomination is open to almost every community member over the age of 18,” Ms Clearihan said.
“As long as you are an Australian citizen and have lived in your council area for more than one month, you are eligible to nominate. Local business operators and people who own property in a council area are also eligible.”
She said South Australia’s community was very diverse, with almost a third of the population born overseas and 17pc of households speaking a language other than English at home.
Completed ballot papers must be received by 5pm on November 9.
The Border Watch will run a full wrap of nominees in tomorrow’s edition.
