The Labor Party has consolidated its position on Blue Mountains City Council after the final election results were decided today [Monday, December 20].
The new council will consist of six Labor councillors (up from five in the last council), three Liberal councillors, two Greens councillors and one Independent.
Women will make up half the number of councillors.
The NSW Electoral Commission finished the count on Monday before making the official announcement about 11am.
In Ward 1, Suzie van Opdorp (ALP) was elected first with Labor receiving 46.38 per cent of the primary vote while Sarah Redshaw (Greens) came in second with her party receiving 28.57 per cent of the primary vote. Kevin Schreiber (Liberal) was elected in third spot with the Liberal Party receiving 25.05 per cent of the primary vote.
In Ward 2, sitting Labor councillor Romola Hollywood was easily re-elected, bringing along her running mate Claire West, with the Labor Party sitting on 47.63 per cent of the primary vote.
In an extremely close race in Ward 2, Greens Cr Brent Hoare was re-elected in third spot with his party receiving 17.03 per cent of the primary vote. Liberal turned Independent, Chris Van der Kley, received slightly more primary votes (17.17 per cent) but a better preference flow to the Greens saw him narrowly miss out on a council spot.
The Liberal Party received 18.17 per cent of the primary vote but a poor flow of preferences saw new candidate Jo Bromilow fail to get elected.
In Ward 3, sitting councillor Mick Fell and former Blue Mountains MP Roza Sage were both elected on primary vote alone (Fell/ALP 38.36 per cent; Sage/Liberal Party 30.82 per cent). They will be joined by former mayor Daniel Myles, who stood as an Independent after quitting the Liberal Party last year. Mr Myles' ticket received 15.69 per cent of the primary to just edge out Kingsley Liu of the Greens (15.13 per cent) after preferences were distributed.
And in Ward 4, Mark Greenhill polled very strongly, increasing the Labor Party's primary vote to a commanding 64.5 per cent and easily ensuring a spot for his running mate Nyree Fisher. Liberal Brendan Christie was re-elected in third place.
The new council is due to meet for the first time on Thursday night, December 23 where Mark Greenhill is expected to be re-elected as mayor.
With the final council spots so close, many of the candidates had chosen not to comment publicly until all the results had been formally declared.
Ward 1's re-elected Cr Schreiber thanked his "great team who worked day in and day out to help me get elected".
"I want to thank the community of Ward 1 for giving me their confidence in voting for me to represent them and, at the same time, represent the people of the whole Blue Mountains."
Mark Greenhill said the increase in female representation from three to six councillors was an "incredible outcome and one we should be proud of".
He said the new council would be one that "supports the environment".
The Liberal Party had four councillors elected to the previous council, although two of them - Daniel Myles and Chris Van der Kley - later quit the party to sit as independents.
Mr Van der Kley said it was "only a handful of votes" that stopped his re-election in the end but he thanked the people who had voted for him "over 22 years". "It's been an absolute privilege to serve the community," he said.
