City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan hopes to secure four more years in the top job.
The current Mayor served as City of Bunbury Chief Executive Officer before being elected to the top job in 2013.
Out of the eight candidates in the last election, Mr Brennan received 21.45 per cent (1636) of the vote, with Michelle Steck coming second on 18.13 (1383) per cent and preceding Mayor David Smith third on 17.95 per cent (1369).
Mr Brennan was adamant he and the council have effectively worked together to assist the region over the past four years.
“We’ve gone out of our way to make sure we do listen to people, we invite them to have input, I have chaired several forums we’ve had here looking at various topics,” he said.
“We have quite a strong engagement with our community, we’ve been able to achieve some wonderful outcomes, financially we’re very sound, the City staff have got very clear direction from the council on the core things that we’re looking at so they know exactly what we want.
“There’s a lot of pride in this city again, a lot of pride in our workforce and I feel very proud of the work we have done over the past four years.”
Mr Brennan said the City of Bunbury has worked closely with the Federal Government, State Government, Bunbury-Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry and numerous community organisations.
He said it was an “exciting time” in Bunbury’s history and he was keen to be part of the area’s ongoing development.
”Robyn, my wife, and I are really proud to be Mayor and first lady of Bunbury and we’re keen to continue in that role and we’re offering our services if the community wants us to continue,” he said.
The Mayor noted major projects currently in development included:
- Changes to Bunbury’s waterfront
- The Withers transformation project
- Developments to areas around Bunbury Turf Club and Bunbury Trotting Club in Carey Park
- The City of Bunbury Local Planning Scheme 8
He said the council was eager to work alongside the Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry on projects in Harvey, Capel and Dardanup.
Mr Brennan said he would continue to provide leadership to the council if he were re-elected.
The 2017 City of Bunbury election race has seen seven candidates running for the Mayor as well as 22 candidates vying for the six council seats up for grabs.
The Mayor said this year saw a record number of people fighting for council positions.
“Competition, to me, is a very healthy indication that we are a thriving community with a whole raft of people with various interests,” he said.
“When I look at those 22, I am really excited by the younger people that are putting their hand up...the 30-year-olds, the 40-year-olds.”
Mr Brennan, Mrs Steck, Ross Slater, Jason Shaw, Brendan Kelly, Zyggi Uchwal and Betty McCleary are all running for the Mayoral position this year.
Bunbury citizens will cast their votes on October 21.