After a tight election race, which came down to preferences and a close count of postal votes on Tuesday this week, Clay Bauman was officially declared Councillor of the Division 2 Seat on Wednesday morning.
While Bauman held a lead of 193 votes, the distribution of preferences needed to win the seat from Andrew Camm was separated by just 20 votes.
Electoral Commissioner Pat Vidgen said that “the distribution of preferences significantly narrowed the margin” but Bauman was officially declared when he received over 50 per cent of the votes remaining in the count.
A total of 2,531 votes were cast out of the 4,155 registered voters, meaning 1,624 people failed to vote.
Bauman thanked his campaign team, volunteers and the wider public for their support and said the win was unexpected.
“I was very surprised that my first vote lead held up against all the other candidates,” he said.
“Especially due to the other preference deals that put me at the bottom of the pack.”
“I am lucky that there are so many people in Division 2 that didn’t follow the how to vote cards and gave me preferences instead.”
Dedicated to improving Council culture, transparency and open discussion, Bauman says that he is looking forward to forging good relations with other Councillors.
“The most important thing is to create a relationship of trust with the other Councillors,” he said.
“I’m only one vote and once we all start to work together, they will realise we’re all on the same team and working towards the same goals.”
He is also ready to back “projects that should be moving ahead” in his electorate and stated that he was disappointed to see the division under-represented in last years’ budget.
“Division 2 has 20 per cent of the rate payers but received only 2.5 per cent of capital works, aside from the reservoir, in the last budget”
The next official step is for Cr Bauman to be sworn in by the Whitsunday Regional Council Chief Executive Officer.
After this, the first Council meeting will take place on January 25 and in the meantime, Bauman says he will be engaging further with public, taking tours of important services and joining relevant committees.
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