New councillor welcomed

Albany City Council has a new face after an extraordinary election last Friday night to fill the vacancy left by former deputy mayor Yvonne Attwell.

Bill Hollingworth was elected as the new Kalgan ward councillor, beating his two rivals to fill the role that had been vacant since October.

Mr Hollingworth received 575 votes, or 41.94 per cent of the vote, while candidate Judith Williams obtained 275 votes, 20.06 per cent, and Colin Davey got 521 votes, or 38 per cent of the vote.

Of the 4082 registered voters in the ward, 33 per cent turned out to vote.

Mr Hollingworth said he looked forward to joining a positive council and wanted to help Albany enhance its natural assets as recreational tourism was a growing industry.

“There’s no point having a single-minded vision, it’s about being part of a team and heading towards the future Albany can achieve,” he said.

He said he wanted to help develop the Albany Bike Plan and support industries such as grain, wool and livestock through his work on the council.

Mr Hollingworth was a Plantagenet Shire councillor from 2005 to 2009 before leaving to focus on his business, a blue gum managed investment scheme.

He is the South Coast Natural Resource Management chairman, on the board of Regional Development Australia Great Southern and is a part-time Great Southern Institute of Technology lecturer.

Mr Hollingworth will be sworn in at a council meeting held this month.

His term will expire in October 2015.