Council vote proves community is engaged

Liz Guidera, Serena Sandwell and Martin Van Koldenhoven were officially declared the Shire of Katanning's new councillors, and incumbent councillor Robert Godfrey was re-elected at 8.30pm last Saturday night.

This year's local government election had a turnout rate of 48.6 per cent in the Shire, with 4215 valid votes.

Numbers have decreased compared to the 2013 election which totalled 5625 votes and turnout rate of more than 50 per cent, but chief executive Julian Murphy said it was still a strong return for the community.

"Many sent their votes in prior to Saturday, and a large amount of the public attended to vote on the day as well," he said.

"It means the community has been engaged and is interested, which I think is a positive thing.

"These three new councillors and Robert who is returning, I believe, are all genuine candidates who have the interest of the community at heart.

"There are a lot of good projects on the table, and a lot of things that we can build on to keep that momentum going."

This year's WA Electoral Commission-run local government elections received the highest number of nominations on record, with 1021 councillor nominations and 449 mayoral and Shire presidency nominations across WA.