A VOTE FOR EQUEX

WAGGA will have a new look city council, with Garry Hiscock topping the poll to be one of up to eight fresh faces.Mr Hiscock, with 3185 first preference above the line votes and 1766 below the line first preference votes, credited the community's support for his stand on the development of the Equex centre as a major factor in his success.“The first thing that comes into the minds of people is me being associated with the Equex project,” Mr Hiscock said yesterday.The exact make up of 11-person council will not be known for several days until preferences are distributed, but Mr Hiscock and mayor Kerry Pascoe have already received more than enough first preference votes to be elected.Well placed to be elected also are Donna Argus (second on Mr Hiscock’s ticket), Rod Kendall, Alan Brown, Lindsay Vidler and Ray Goodlass.Other good chances include Clint Uden, Wayne Geale, Greg Conkey, Yvonne Braid and Scott Lennox.Cr Pascoe has booked his place back on council and Cr Kendall and Cr Vidler are in a good position to be retained, but six other councillors are struggling.Cr Kevin Wales (881 votes) has the best chance of puling through, while Mark Gooden (246) and Ken Klemke (61) have dismissed their chances of re-election.Kerry Geale (294 votes) is unlikely to be returned, while the 25-year local government career of former mayor Peter Dale (441) looks like ending and former deputy mayor Michael Georgiou (415) also faces a huge task to be re-elected.Cr Pascoe said he was a little disappointed his vote was down on the massive support he had four years ago.However, his group’s combined below-the-line first preference vote was the highest of all groups, buoyed by 536 votes for Yvonne Braid.Cr Pascoe and Cr Kendall restated their mayoral ambitions, while Mr Hiscock said it was too early to decide his intentions.At the close of counting on Saturday night, 27,631 votes had been counted, with a relatively high informal vote of 2302, or 8.3 per cent.Some 6000 pre-poll and postal votes were expected to be counted yesterday at the Wagga returning officer’s Fitzmaurice Street office yesterday, but the results of that counting was not available last night.As a result of a referendum at the 2004 council election, the number of councillors has been reduced from 15 to 11.Councillors John Harding, Jan Hay, Diana Simpson, Brian Andrews and Karen Wright chose not to stand for re-election, leaving nine councillors to battle it out with 51 other candidates.Ballot papers that show more than one preference for groups above the line will be sent to Sydney tomorrow for counting.