Full list of candidates for Coffs Harbor and Bellingen councils

Forty-two candidates will be listed on the ballot for the Coffs Harbor City Council election on Saturday, September 14, all standing as members of a group.

Six groups are independent or unaffiliated, while Labor and The Greens form one group each.

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Eight councilors will be elected and the mayor will be chosen from a field of seven.

Under the optional preferential voting (OPV) system, voters can vote for a group by ticking a single box above the line on the ballot paper, or they can choose to vote for individual councilors by numbering the boxes below the line.

It will be a tight contest in Bellingen, where fourteen people are vying for six councilor positions and two former mayors are going head-to-head in the popular vote.

Following are the candidates for both local government areas, based on the positions they draw on the ballot paper.

City of Coffs Harbour

1. GROUP A (independent): Nikki Williams from Coffs Harbor (group leader), Cath Fowler from Boambee East, Les Oxford from Korora, Gurminder Saro from Woolgoolga, Matt Gosling from Boambee, Falak Othman from Coffs Harbour, Clinton Hayes from Coffs Harbor , Barbara Haigh of Korora and Neil Manson of Sandy Beach.

2. GROUP B (independent): Coffs Harbor’s Rodney Fox (group leader), Boambee’s Nicole Bourne, Sandy Beach’s Michael Thompson-Blair and Bonville’s Dudley Mitchell-Adams.

3. GROUP C (Unaffiliated): John O’Brien of Coffs Harbor (group leader), Jasmine Braun of Sandy Beach, Dorothea Skoludek of Woolgoolga and Kristel O’Brien of Coffs Harbour.

4. GROUP D (The Greens): Emerald Beach’s Jonathan Cassell, Coffs Harbour’s Tim Nott, Coffs Harbour’s Eugenie Gerlach, Coffs Harbour’s Elaine Sherwood and Coffs Harbour’s Olivier La Mer-Adair.

5. GROUP E (independent): George Cecato of Korora (group leader), Jesse Young of Coffs Harbour, Jeffrey (Jack) Dix of Sawtell, Tiga Cross of Coffs Harbour, Matthew Culgan of Sawtell and Katherine Kistkow of Coffs Harbour.

6. GROUP F (Independent): Woolgoolga’s Tegan Swan (group leader), Korora’s Marcus Blackwell, Toormina’s Lucas Craig, Woolgoolga’s Lisa Nichols and Emerald Beach’s Mel Browne.

7. GROUP G (independent): Paul Amos from Coffs Harbor (group leader), Julie Sechi from Coffs Harbour, Scott Wolgamot from Coffs Harbor and Sally Townley from Bellingen.

8. GROUP H (work): Tony Judge from Woolgoolga (group leader), Htun Htun Oo from North Boambee Valley, Lealah Durow from Boambee, Glenis Hunter from Coramba and Danny Wilson from Nana Glen.

There are seven candidates in the mayoral elections.

Incumbent Mayor Paul Amos is seeking re-election and faces six of his fellow group leaders, excluding GROUP C.

Bellingen County Council

1. GROUP A (Independent or Unaffiliated): Steve Allan of Urunga (group leader), Eleanor Tree of Repton, Joanne Brotherton of Urunga, Andrew O’Keeffe of Raleigh, Linda Coomber of Urunga and Stephen Ryan of Urunga.

2. GROUP B (Independent or Unaffiliated): Graeme Shephard of Dorrigo (group leader), Joanne Cook of Dorrigo, Cathryn McGuire of Dorrigo and Stephen Glyde of Bellingen.

3. GROUP C (The Greens): Dominic King of Kalang (group leader), Jennie Fenton of Bellingen, Alison Heeley of Bellingen and Wendy Firefly of Valery.

The mayoral race will be between two men who have held the office before; outgoing mayor Steve Allan and former mayor Dominic King.

Voting is compulsory for anyone over eighteen and registered to vote, and you cannot vote if you are not registered.

You can check that your details are up to date by visiting the Australian Electoral Commission website.

By Sue STEPHENSON