Shire of Lake Grace to remain one councillor down after no nominations received for vacant position

The Shire of Lake Grace has been left one councillor down after no one put their hand up to fill a vacant seat. Ratepayers will continue to be represented by eight councillors instead of nine, with an extraordinary election failing to attract a candidate before the July 13 deadline. Returning officer Kerry Hitchens announced the outcome in a statement on July 14. “At the close of nominations ... no nominations had been received for the vacancy of councillor for the Shire of Lake Grace,” she said. “Therefore, the result of the extraordinary election to be conducted as a postal vote on August 19 is that the vacancy remains unfilled.” The vote was called after former councillor Shane Carruthers resigned in April, citing the difficulty of balancing work and council commitments. Shire president Len Armstrong said it was not an unusual situation for a rural council. “If things are running smoothly, you generally do not get many nominations,” he said. “You try to get people in the community to nominate, but if you can’t, so be it.” Mr Armstrong said he did not expect one vacant position to have a big impact on the operations of the council. “The vacant councillor workload has been shifted amongst other councillors,” he said. “We have been operating with the current numbers since April and there has been no difference.” Because there were no nominations, the Shire will save $10,000 in election costs by not having to hold a postal vote. Councillors are yet to decide how they are going to deal with the vacancy, though Mr Armstrong said his preferred option was to keep it vacant until the next round of local government elections on October 21 next year.