{"id":257126,"date":"2020-04-23T15:18:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T05:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=257126"},"modified":"2020-07-11T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T00:59:32","slug":"smerdon-elected-deputy-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/04\/23\/smerdon-elected-deputy-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Smerdon Elected Gympie’s Deputy Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
New Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig and new Deputy Mayor Cr Hilary Smerdon at last year’s Goomeri Show<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 23, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

Division 6 councillor Hilary Smedon was elected Deputy Mayor at Gympie Regional Council’s compulsory post-election meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Cr Smerdon secured the most votes after preferences of any GRC candidate at the recent Council elections.<\/p>\n

He was was elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor.<\/p>\n

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the meeting was livestreamed on the Council’s Facebook page<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Incoming Mayor Cr Glenn Hartwig congratulated all councillors and warned them they faced a high level of responsibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said councillors should base their decisions on firm principles.<\/p>\n

“My suggestion to you is to be curious, ask questions and respect honest answers, and understand at all times that we are spending someone else\u2019s money,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We won\u2019t get it right every time but we will take responsibility.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Hartwig said Councillors also needed to lead the organisation towards greater openness, honesty and transparency.<\/p>\n

“There are exciting times ahead and COVID-19 will present some challenges,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This region is the greatest place to live, raise a family or simply just enjoy life.<\/p>\n

“I look forward to being a mayor for the whole region and treating people equally, without favour or ill will.”<\/p>\n

Cr Smerdon said his main areas of focus would be basic services and council finances.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In my opinion, we need to do the basic services first and give ratepayers value for money,” Cr Smerdon told the meeting.<\/p>\n

“I promised open, honest and dependable representation and I intend to deliver on these promises, reining in excessive spending and bringing our budget back into the black.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Division 6 councillor Hilary Smedon was elected Deputy Mayor at Gympie Regional Council’s compulsory post-election meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,3],"tags":[1131],"yoast_head":"\nSmerdon Elected Gympie's Deputy Mayor - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Division 6 councillor Hilary Smedon was elected Deputy Mayor at Gympie Regional Council's compulsory post-election meeting on Thursday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/04\/23\/smerdon-elected-deputy-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smerdon Elected Gympie's Deputy Mayor - 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