Libs win the draw again

Lady Luck has definitely smiled on Waverley’s Liberals with Councillors Sally Betts and Kerryn Sloan again drawing the mayoralty and deputy mayoralty out of the hat.

In a replay of last year’s mayoral draw, Mayor Sally Betts has won another 12 months as mayor over Labor councillor Ingrid Strewe, the candidate for Labor and the Greens.

Deputy Kerryn Sloan also renewed her role for another 12 months with her lucky draw over Greens councillor Dominic Wy Kanak, the candidate for Labor and the Greens.

This good fortune has also given the Liberals control of all the committees, with Liberal councillor Tony Kay chairing the important Development Control and Traffic Committees, Jill Clayton the Community Safety Advisory committee and Cr Sloan Finance, Ethics & Strategic Planning as well as the deputy mayoralty.

Independent councillor Miriam Guttman-Jones, who voted with the Liberals in the mayoral election, will chair the Community, Housing, Environmental Services & Public Works and Multicultural Advisory committees.

Cr Betts pledged to continue tackling dumped rubbish, graffiti, traffic congestion and parking policies.

“Over the past 12 months we have achieved a lot and I want to continue the momentum,” she said.

“We also need to implement many of the actions from our public parking review and find ways to make public transport more attractive. We still have a lot of community consultation ahead of us on many of the parking initiatives but I believe the end result will be fairer for residents and help make it easier for visitors to find a parking spot in our highly visited area.”

The mayor congratulated Cr Sloan and thanked her fellow councillors, “particularly my Liberal colleagues and Independent Councillor Guttman-Jones, for their support over the past 12 months”.

“I hope we can be a collaborative and cohesive council that works for the best of our community,” she said.

Cr Betts was first elected to the council in September 1995 for the Hunter Ward, which includes Dover Heights, North Bondi, Diamond Bay and parts of Rose Bay and Vaucluse. She emigrated from South Africa in 1974 and has lived in Waverley for more than 30 years.