Tim Overall has been returned as Queanbeyan mayor in a landslide victory.
RESIDENTS calmly and consistently voted to return Councillor Tim Overall as mayor of Queanbeyan on Saturday, handing him a landslide victory with over 54 per cent of first preference votes.
Cr Overall comfortably out-polled his rival candidates at every booth across town, with his highest vote coming from Jerrabomberra, where he received more than twice as many votes as Jerra local Jamie Cregan, and more than three times the votes of Jerra Labor candidate Brian Brown.
The victory has secured five of the ten Queanbeyan Council seats for the Overall ticket, and he'll be supported by current councillors Peter Bray (deputy mayor), Trudy Taylor, Velice Trajanoski and one new face in Toni McLennan.
Labor candidates Brian Brown and Judith Burfoot and independents Jamie Cregan and Kenrick Winchester will also commence their first terms on Council, while Cr Sue Whelan has been returned after running as an independent.
Cr Overall said he was all but certain he had the win sealed from the first day of pre-poll voting.
"That's when I had a clear understanding that the vote was going to be stronger than 2008," Cr Overall said.
"I'm very much looking forward to the next term, and working with the whole council. There's a number of new councillors coming on board, so it will be good to work with them as well," he said.
Labor candidate Brian Brown said he was pleased to come runner up in the mayoral count, and secure two seats on council in what he said were difficult circumstances.
"It's a remarkable effort, considering the challenges we've faced this campaign, not the least that we didn't have an incumbent Labor candidate on Council.
"And when you consider that Labor federally and around the states is on a bit of a decline….if we were a football team, you'd say we were in the rebuilding phase, so to come second in the mayoral vote and to win two seats on council is a great result."
Jamie Cregan was also satisfied with the result in his first council campaign.
"When you consider that 100 days ago nobody knew about us, and we've been able to beat the Labor party at a couple of booths when they're a recognised and established brand, that's a top result for us," Mr Cregan said.
"We weren't just pushing a business agenda. We were running a community and a business campaign, which seems to have been forgotten. We campaigned for better residential and community facilities and greater consultation, and we'll continue to pursue those things," he said.
Meanwhile, The Queanbeyan-Monaro Greens have again missed out on a Council seat, with newcomer Kenrick Winchester taking out the final spot on preferences.
Spokeswoman and group leader Katrina Willis said she was disappointed with the result.
"We congratulate all the successful candidates, but we are disappointed to miss out, as much because a lot of the environmental and community issues we've been advocating for now won't be advanced on this council," Ms Willis said.
"The domination by one group on Council is also a concern, because it means there's no collaboration," she said.
However the newly re-elected mayor said he would now get on with prioritising his election commitments at the next council meetings, including beautification works to Monaro St and the Karabar shopping precinct, bike path upgrades, rolling out new roads and potentially securing a cinema complex for Queanbeyan.
"Over the course of the next few Council meetings moving towards Christmas we will be putting forward a number of notices of motion, bringing forward those commitments we made during the campaign, to have those incorporated into the four-year delivery plan and subsequent budgets," Cr Overall said.