First new Queanbeyan mayor in 14 years to be elected next week

His most likely rivals, Labor's Bryce Wilson and the only other returning councillor, independent Michele Biscotti, said they would not be contesting the role.

It's a new era as former long-standing mayor Tim Overall, first elected to the post in 2008, did not contest the local government elections last month.

If elected, Mr Winchester would be only the third Queanbeyan mayor in 30 years, with Mr Overall holding the top job for 13 years after his predecessor Frank Pangallo was mayor for 17 years.

The newly-elected councillor Mr Wilson, meanwhile, has also been announced as Labor's candidate for the state seat of Monaro. He said he intends to stay on council if he is elected to State Parliament.

Mr Wilson said he would be voting for Mr Winchester for mayor.

"Kenrick has my support," he said.

Mr Winchester, 38, said it would be a huge honour and responsibility to be voted mayor but he was not taking anything for granted until the election on Wednesday.

Mr Winchester, a dad of three who manages federal government contracts for SG Fleet, is a member of the Labor Party but has sat on council as an independent since 2017.

He said there was no arrangement to side with the Labor Party in council decisions.

"I don't make promises to anyone," Mr Winchester said.

"I'll work with the guys who are the Labor councillors but also the Liberal councillors and the independents. It doesn't matter left or right, we all need to work together.

"It's just that from our political leanings, we're more in line with what we see is important but that doesn't guarantee anything. I'm hoping we will have a much more of a consensus approach in this council and I think we will, based on the candidate information.

"We all agree on what the big key things we need to get done are."

Mr Winchester said the first priority for the new council was a forensic examination of its finances to avoid a big rates hike for residents.

Council staff have recommended rate hikes of almost 30 per cent over the next three years to cover increasing debt but Mr Winchester said he hoped to find another way, including savings measures.

"Raising rates just seems like the easy option," he said.

Mr Wilson said at the first council meeting there would also be a vote to decide if any vacancy during the term could be filled by a countback mechanism rather than a byelection.

In that case, if Mr Wilson won Monaro and decided to leave council, he said the fourth person on the Labor ticket, Maimiti Brook, from Sutton, would take his position on council.

Mr Biscotti said he was too busy with his full-time work to also consider the mayoral position.

Greens councillor Katrina Willis did not want to say who she would be voting for but said "there was value in having someone experienced in the role", considering nine of the 11 councillors were new.

She wanted to learn more about the mechanisms of council and would consider standing for deputy mayor down the track.

Labor's Esma Livermore has also been touted as the new deputy mayor.

The full council is: Katrina Willis (Greens), Kenrick Winchester (Independent), Louis Burton (Liberal), Bryce Wilson (Labor), Esma Livermore (Labor), Jacqueline Ternouth (Liberal), Mareeta Grundy (Independent), Steve Taskovski (Independent), Edwina Webster (Independent), Michele Biscotti (Independent) and John Preston (Labor).

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