LORD Mayor Peter Nattrass has easily retained his seat at the head of the Perth City Council. Dr Nattrass polled 2,196 votes, nearly 1,000 votes clear of nearest mayoral rival Councillor Laurance Goodman.
Despite losing the Lord Mayoral poll, Mr Goodman will remain a Perth City Councillor. His term as councillor still has another two years to run.
Councillor Janet Davidson and Deputy Lord Mayor Tess Stroud also retained their seats. The two newcomers to council are Jennifer MacGill and Noel Semmens.
Mrs MacGill runs Barrack Street gift shop T Sharp and has been involved in civic committees such as CitySafe.
Mr Semmens is CEO of Crime Stoppers WA and has some 30 years experience in the tourism industry. He helped establish the Perth Convention Bureau.
Council hopefuls Peter Richardson, Roger Kwok, Terry Maller, Rob Butler, Otto Pelczar and Brad Waghorn will have another chance for election in 2001.
It remains to be seen whether the divisions that dogged the previous council still remain.
Through most of 1999 – especially as the election campaign heated up – it has not been unusual for the vote on an issue to be six to three.
The three were nearly always councillors Goodman, Davidson and Bert Tudori. The other voting block was usually Dr Nattrass, Mrs Stroud and councillors Michael Sutherland, Judy McEvoy, Bill Sutton and Jim Leahy.
Both Mr Leahy and Mr Sutton chose not to stand for re-election. Mr Semmens ran on the same ticket as Mrs Stroud and Mrs MacGill was a running mate with Mrs Davidson.
But if the tickets prove indicative of any factions that may form on this council, the status quo is likely to be retained.
