Oberon Council will have a majority of new faces after the upcoming December 4 council election, which has drawn a field of 13 candidates.
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Only four current councillors had announced they would stand again at the recent nominations and they were current Deputy Mayor Mark Kellam and councillors Mick McKechnie, Andrew McKibbon and Clive Mccarthy.
Leaving the council chambers are mayor Kathy Sajowitz and councillors Brenda Lyon, veteran councillor Kerry Gibbons, Ian Doney and Don Capel.
Making another bid for a seat are three candidates who failed to be elected at the 2017 poll; Neil Francis, Ian Tucker and Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway president Greg Bourne, who just missed out because of the preferential trend system which applied at the time.
The new hopefuls are well-known former teacher Katie Graham, prominent O'Connell Community Group member Lauren Trembath, Local Land Services vet Bruce Watt, Margaret Kilby, Helen Hayden and Sig Sovik.
10 of the candidates have announced their affiliation as 'Independent' on the official NSW Government election website, while the remaining three, Helen Hayden, Margaret Kilby and Neil Francis chose to leave that space blank.
Despite its constant criticism of the council over many months, the Oberon Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association has chosen not to nominate a candidate. However, that does not rules the organisation supporting one or more candidate between now and election day.
Pre-polling, which usually makes up 40%-50% of the votes, will start at the Showground Federation Hall on Monday November 22 (8am-5pm) and run daily until Friday December 3 (except the middle Sunday).
Voting on election day will be at Oberon High School, O'Connell Public School and Black Springs Public School.`While the poll will be held on December 4, it will take some days to decide the final composition of the council because of additional vote counting.
