Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba gave her support for Cr Murray – along with councillors Moira Hamilton, Nathan Cattell and Robert Petreski.

“He’s a very experienced councillor, and very proactive, and I have full confidence in him,” Cr Saliba told the Mercury earlier on Tuesday.

Cr Murray won the vote by show of hands six to one against contender, Cr Peter Moran, who was nominated by outgoing deputy Kellie Marsh.

After the vote Cr Marsh thanked the community for their support and said she was proud of council’s achievements over the past year following the scrapped merger with Wollongong City Council.

“I was quite surprised that we did have an election that was more about the people, I think, than any other election I’ve been part of before,” she said.

“I just hope over the next two years we can continue to work together to get things done for the community that we represent.”

Cr Saliba agreed with the amount of hard work council had put in and said it was a priority to “get on with the job” they were elected to do.

Meantime, Wollongong’s Deputy Lord Mayor will remain unchanged for the next year after Labor councillor David Brown was re-elected at Monday night’s meeting.

Cr Brown beat Liberal contender, Cr Cameron Walters, by a vote of eight to five.

The meeting was also the last for Cr Chris Connor who is to vacate his seat after seven years, due to a move to Tamworth.

“It has been a great honour to serve,” he told the meeting.

Cr Connor’s resignation has triggered a by-election in Ward 3, with residents in this ward to head to the polls on November 24.

For details on Ward boundaries visit www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au