By NATALIE GALLENTI
IT WAS a case of fresh faces and females as the results of Melton City Council’s election filtered through on Monday morning.
The council will have a female majority with five of the seven seats going to women; two of those are new to the council.
The provisional results of the postal ballot were released early Monday morning and put an end to a bitterly fought contest between 72 candidates – the second highest in the state.
Lara Carli, sister of outgoing mayor Justin Mammarella, secured 1645 first preference votes to come out on top of the closely fought Watts Ward.
Ms Carli was “over the moon” with the outcome.
She said she hopes to work towards a fairer and just place for all who make the city of Melton a vibrant community.
Four candidates tallied more than 1000 first preference votes in Watts Ward, with Brad Macpherson (1386 votes) and former mayor Bruce Rowan (1384) pipped on preferences by incumbent Renata Cugliari (1195).
Cambridge Ward residents showed faith in incumbent Kathy Majdlik to re-elect her for a second term with a whopping 2584 votes.
While long-serving councillor Garry Stock (1518) was ousted in favour of rural landowner Nola Dunn, who obtained 1884 votes.
Ms Dunn was one of a handful of candidates to pledge to donate the annual $27,848 councillor allowance back to the community.
When asked if she remained steadfast on her promise she said she would not be backing down, despite the idea not being popular with other candidates.
There were no changes in Coburn Ward with all three incumbents re-elected for another term.
Broden Borg (3191), Sophie Ramsey (2762) and Bob Turner (1703) were miles ahead of their opponents on first preferences with Brooke Gleeson the closest on 1321 votes.
Ms Majdlik told Star she was “overwhelmed” with the support she had received from residents.
“I feel very honoured and privileged to be elected once again,” she said.
“It’s very humbling, coming from a migrant family. If my parents were alive today they would be very proud of me.”
Ms Majdlik said she was well prepared the second time around and looked forward to continuing to work on “endless projects”, but was particularly keen to see the creation of an aquatic centre.
She said the new councillors would have “their work cut out for them” in their first term.
