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Southern Wollongong residents will be back at the polls by the end of the year, after a Labor councillor announced he will give up his seat on Wollongong City Council.
Chris Connor, who represents Ward 3, said he had regretfully tendered his resignation this week, after finding it too difficult to properly represent his constituents from his new home in Tamworth.
It will be effective from the end of next month, he has told General Manager David Farmer, a year into his second term on the council.
Last December, a couple of months after being elected, Cr Connor accepted a job as the head of Tamworth Public – a 900-pupil school he said offered opportunities he couldn’t get in the Illawarra.
At the time, he said he was confident he would be able to represent the interests of his community using modern technology.
However, in recent months, he said it had become clear that he was not able to be as involved in local issues as he would like.
“I like to be a representative on the ground, working with my constituents as well as doing all the formal parts of council,” he said.
“Because of the distance created by my work commitments, it’s become very difficult, almost impossible, for me to be there working shoulder to shoulder with people of my ward.”
“So I think there needs to be representation from someone who can do that and be closer at hand. I don’t think I can do the role justice by being this far away at the moment.”
Since taking up the Tamworth job, Cr Connor has attended roughly half this year’s council meetings.
The vacancy created by his announcement will trigger a by-election in the southern ward, which includes Dapto, Port Kembla, Berkeley and Warrawong.
According to the Local Government Act, this needs to be held within three months of his resignation, which will be effective on September 30.
Wollongong council’s general manager David Farmer said he would advise the NSW Government and electoral commission of the vacancy within a week, and that an election would most likely be held before Christmas.
“We will have to pay for [the election], we haven’t got a quote yet, but the previous full election cost about $960,000,” he said. “This is an election for a third of the city and we’ll only be asking one question, but there will be some fixed costs.”
The electoral commission will call for nominations for the one vacant seat, with any residents of the Wollongong local government area eligible to run.
Cr Connor acknowledged his leaving could break part of Labor’s stronghold on the council (where it currently holds one seat shy of a majority), but said he believed his decision would bring “freshness and vision” to the council.
“The by-election will be a hard won contest, because having just a single space provides an opportunity for a big field of people to go for it,” he said.
“I am reasonably confident that another Labor person would be returned, but I’m not going to say that’s a foregone conclusion.”
“It will be interesting to see who runs.”
In a statement, Deputy Lord Mayor David Brown said his Labor colleague had “served with distinction” for seven years.
“It is with great regret that we lose Chris from council’s team, we wish him well in his career in the education sector,” he said.
“Chris brought a wealth of experience and local historical knowledge to council debates and worked hard to help residents of his community.”
Cr Brown said he believed the last time a councillor had vacated a seat in Wollongong was in the 1980s.
During his time on council, Cr Connor said he had most loved working with individuals and families to help them navigate local government, and on major planning and policy initiatives that had helped to bring spending to his home town of Dapto.
He highlighted the start of work on the Fowlers Road Bridge, as well as the rapid growth in development in West Dapto, as well as his two years as Deputy Lord Mayor during the previous council term.
“Wollongong is a wonderful place to live and work. It is a city on the verge of a recreated image and direction, an exciting and creative community that has been my privilege to serve,” he said.