Experienced trio vie for last seat

The candidates, in ballot order, are Sharon Dennis, Myles Humphries and Trevor Hibbert.

The by-election will be held Saturday, November 23, with voting compulsory for Berrigan Shire residents.

It has been called after the council failed to get enough nominations to go to the polls for the scheduled local government elections in September.

All six candidates were automatically elected after the election had concluded.

The council currently consists of returned Mayor Julia Cornwell McKean, deputy mayor Renee Paine, John Stringer, Katie Ngatokoa, Matthew Hannan, Renee Brooker and Catherine Healy.

Ms Dennis has been living in Tocumwal since 2014, and said as a councillor she hopes to support and champion the region as a great place to live, work and play.

Mr Humphries came to the region in 2011, to take a job with Berrigan Shire’s engineering department.

He said he was inspired to stand for council after discussions in the community about where improvements could be made within council and its services.

Mr Hibbert is also a relative newcomer to the community, relocating to Tocumwal four years ago.

As a member of the Tocumwal Community Development Committee he’s enjoyed supporting and improving the community, and believes he can do similar good on a grander scale as a councillor.

More about each of the candidates is as follows:

Sharon Dennis

My partner is a passionate pilot, and we flew from Tasmania to Tocumwal in 2014.

We parked the plane in front of a for sale sign, took a photo and next thing we were moving into a hangar and looking for a house in Tocumwal.

His passion grew as a glider pilot, and we thought that we had a solid amount of energy to heavily invest to start a gliding business.

We now have the largest fleet in Australia and brought the largest wooden hangar in the Southern Hemisphere.

I had left my jobs as a university lecturer, nurse and business owner, but I rolled up my sleeves and now love meeting new pilots from around the world.

I get to greet a lot of national and international pilots, and I have found that I enjoy talking about Berrigan Shire from a ground and air perspective.

We have some of the best flying in Australia and with welcoming people in each town, amazing country views and of course the magnificent river.

Promoting the town’s businesses, farming, social activities and positive improvements lead me to stand for council.

I have experience with government from another state as a nominated state advisor for art, health, education and land council.

My local experience is as a community representative with LHAC and recent council employment.

My main goals are to address the internet and phone challenges. The intermittent increases in population affect the services to the point of not only slowing down, but sometimes not working at all.

I would like to celebrate and promote the Berrigan Shire area and support activities and groups who work hard to make a difference, also reviewing options to work with Parks to open other camping areas and have a designated and welcoming parking area for cars with caravans.

There are wonderful services in place, but there can be more investigation towards the future to reflect a growing community and care service requirements while also supporting a university and pathways for continued education.

Myles Humphries

I had considered standing for local government in Spetember, after conversations at the Berrigan Men’s Shed about council performance, but I missed the deadline.

When the by-election was called, I decided I should put my hat in the ring.

I was a local government employee for 28 years, starting first at Moree Plains, then Gilgandra and then coming to Berrigan Shire in 2011. I then resigned from Berrigan Shire in 2017.

Now as a self-funded retiree, I occasionally drive buses for Baldwins.

I am an engineer, and a lot of my early career was on the design of roads, bridges, culverts and in water and sewerage.

When I moved to Gilgrandra I was services engineer on water and sewerage, and was also in charge of open spaces.

When I came to Berrigan, waste management also fell into my lap.

I sat in on the odd council meeting, and have delivered reports and made recommendations to councils, arranged budgets, managed staff and I have a sound understanding of asset management and asset management planning.

I have also sat on a number of committees in my time, and been involved in emergency services for 35 years, including as acting local emergency management officer (LEMO), but with the support to take the lead on a number of occasions.

I believe sustainability is a big issue for the council.

We need to get back to the basics of roads, rates and rubbish, and I firmly believe councils getting involved in residential developments is a good way to lose money.

The underground power issue at Berrigan is also a concern. The cost to ratepayers to connect to the new system could lead to the loss of businesses.

I understand council has grant funding for this and the ‘use it or lose it’ premise, but we need to come up with a way to assist businesses with the transition more.

If elected, I certainly want to meet with the various community groups and draw out the issues more, and see if we can get on top of where the community wants council to be.

I am also keen to dig my teeth into management plans.

Trevor Hibbert

As a council employee, I started with what was then the City of Preston Council in 1970.

I spent 23 years there as a mechanic, working my way up to leading hand.

I moved to the City of Whittlesea Council and spent 10 years there as workshop manager, before taking a job with the Country Fire Authority as the district mechanical officer.

I did that for 13 years before retiring.

My wife and I have been in Tocumwal for four years.

I would come here when I was younger to water ski and stay at Apex Beach.

We bought a caravan at Time Out, and friends of ours bought a house and opened a B&B here.

We were living at Wandong when we decided to downsize and come to Tocumwal permanently.

I have been involved with the Tocumnwal Rural Fire Service since then, and now also lawn bowls.

I joined the Tocumwal Community Development Committee, which tried to improve Tocumwal through a number of different projects.

When the by-election was called, its president John Stringer (one of the elected councillors) suggested he would like to see more people from Tocumwal on council.

We spoke about it, and after a few weeks of thinking I decided to stand.

If I’m doing stuff for the community through the TCDC and loving it, why not get involved on an official basis.

I would be privileged to work for the betterment of the whole shire.