Claire Barlow
From Mackenzie District Council receptionist to the
district's new mayor - Claire Barlow is finding her new
position "very exciting and quite surreal".
Mrs Barlow (47), who is Mackenzie's first female mayor, beat
two sitting councillors, Graeme Page and Dave Pullen, for the
top job after John O'Neill decided not to seek re-election.
On election night Mrs Barlow had garnered 795 votes, narrowly
ahead of Mr Page (765), followed by Mr Pullen on 354.
When contacted on Saturday night, Mrs Barlow, who lives in
Fairlie, said she had been "pretty confident" she would get a
reasonable result, as she had received much support.
In her job, she had been meeting the public for the past
seven years and had an indication of their frustrations.
As a council staff member, she saw things she wanted to
achieve but could not do it from the receptionist's position.
She could not stand for council and also continue as
receptionist so "I thought I'll go for the top".
She decided she had nothing to lose and was "stoked" with the
result.
Mrs Barlow was excited at the challenge of the new job and
thrilled at the opportunity to be able to serve the community
as mayor.
"I just really love my community," she said.
Asked what she wanted to achieve as mayor, Mrs Barlow said
her goals were to achieve greater unity across the district,
via greater consultation among the community, and the key to
that was using internet and cellphone technology to get
public opinion, and to unite the district into creating "a
really good vision for the future".
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