Liberal Sarah McMahon elected Hawkesbury Mayor

This evening Hawkesbury councillors elected Liberal councillor Sarah McMahon as their new Mayor until January 2024 after incumbent Cllr Patrick Conolly recently resigned the position.

Some members of the public called out “shame on Labor for voting with the Liberals” after Deputy Mayor, Labor’s Barry Calvert, voted for Ms McMahon in the second round of voting.

Cllr Les Sheather said if those shouting in the gallery didn’t go, he’d be going.

Cllr McMahon – previously known under her married name, Richards – says she will be a full time mayor. She will be in the position until January 2024.

There were two rounds of voting. In the first, three candidates put their names forward – independent and one-time mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett, Labor’s Amanda Kotlash, and Cllr McMahon.

In that first round, Cllr Lyons-Buckett got the votes of Greens councillor Danielle Wheeler and Shooters Farmers and Fishers’ Shane Djuric, as well as her own vote.

Cllr McMahon got six votes, from Eddie Dogramaci, Les Sheather, Paul Viegel, Jill Reardon, Patrick Conolly and herself.

Cllr Kotlash only got her own vote and that of her Labor colleague Cllr Calvert, so she was knocked out of contention.

In the second round between Cllr Lyons-Bucket and Cllr McMahon, Cllr Lyons-Buckett’s number of votes remained at three, while Cllr McMahon got seven votes, including her own.

The others who voted for her were Labor’s Barry Calvert, Eddie Dogramaci of the Small Business Party, independent Les Sheather and Liberal councillors Paul Veigel, Jill Reardon and Patrick Conolly

“I would just like to say a few small words,” she said as she took the Mayor’s chair.

“I believe that tonight has presented itself as an opportunity for a new chapter. As councillors we all know that we must work as one and do our best for the Hawkesbury that we all live in and all love.”

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