Party backed councillor says goodbye, six others run for re-election

Susanna Freymark

All NSW councils are in caretaker mode and the decisions the council can make are limited until after the September 14 council elections.

At the Richmond Valley Council’s final monthly meeting before the elections, it was time to say goodbye to the council’s only party-backed councillor.

Labor’s Patrick Deegan has decided not to run in the upcoming election. The August 20 council meeting was his last.

All other councillors are running – Robert Mustow, Sam Cornish, Steve Morrissey, Robert Hayes, Deb McGillan and Sandra Humphrys.

The list of all Richmond Valley candidates can be found here.

Mr Deegan asked to speak at the meeting.

“This is my last council meeting, I’m most probably the most relaxed councillor in the room at this point,” he said.

Mr Deegan said how proud he is to have been part of the council.

“It’s been a very good council, and we’ve all worked together as a well functioning team,” he said.

“We were able to have different points of view and disagree respectfully and put that disagreement aside for the benefit of the community.”

He spoke about meeting the challenges of the 2022 floods and as a councillor, he was proud of the council staff and what they did to meet the flood recovery challenges.

“We were able to stick together and make decisions in difficult times even when they weren’t popular.”

During Mr Deegan’s term, the council dealt with flood recovery and the controversial NRLX decision.

“The only real criticism I’ve received from the community was that at times there was not enough debate,” he said.

“And on the surface, I’d agree with that but when you come to council meetings and the staff puts forward well thought out, well reasoned, well written motions, it’s very hard to disagree with it.”

Mr Mustow responded to Mr Deegan’s comments.

“You were the first political party to be elected since I’ve been on council, and I had a few reservations, but you have not brought those political alliances to this council – like we see in other council areas – and I thank you for that,” Mr Mustow said.

The meeting continued. Summary of that meeting to come.

Read summaries of all Richmond Valley Council meetings here.