← Bourke Shire Council
Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Bourke Shire has an elected governing body: ten councillors elected across the whole local government area by proportional representation, with no wards. It is not under administration — the councillors declared elected by the NSW Electoral Commission on 1 October 2024 are in office for a term ending 9 September 2028, and the council's General Manager is Leonie Brown. The councillors elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor from among themselves; Cr Lachlan Ford was elected Mayor by his fellow councillors in September 2024 for a mayoral term ending 28 September 2026, succeeding long-serving former Mayor Barry Hollman. One seat changed hands mid-term: following the resignation of Cr Maxime Nina, Victor Bartley was declared elected on 24 March 2026 through an NSWEC countback of the 2024 votes, and was sworn in at the council's 20 April 2026 meeting.

New to these terms? Read them in plain English
How the mayor is chosen
Either elected directly by voters, or chosen by the councillors.
Ward
A subdivision of a council area that elects its own councillors.
Local Government Area (LGA)
The official area a council governs.
NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC)
Runs council elections and publishes the official results.
See the full explainer, with formulas →

Who represents you

Governance status
Elected council — 10 councillors, no administratorVerified from the NSWEC declaration of the 2024 election, the council's Annual Report 2024/2025, the March 2026 countback media release and the council's current councillor list. Ordinary council meetings are held monthly, with agendas, business papers and minutes published on the council's website; the council also published a YouTube live-stream link for its 24 August 2026 meeting.
Mayor
Cr Lachlan FordElected Mayor by his fellow councillors in September 2024; mayoral term ends 28 September 2026. A councillor for 14 years at the time of the 2024 election, nine of them as Deputy Mayor. Contact: mayor.ford@bourke.nsw.gov.au.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Sally Davis (Independent)Elected Deputy Mayor by the councillors for the same mayoral term.
Councillors
10 total — undivided (single ward, elected by proportional representation)10 councillors were elected from 14 candidates in September 2024; 1,733 residential and non-residential electors were enrolled.
How the Mayor is chosen
Elected by the councillors (not by popular vote); 2-year mayoral term
General Manager
Leonie BrownThe General Manager is the council's most senior staff member (an employee, not an elected position) and also leads the shire's Local Emergency Management Committee.

Your representatives

Want to raise something? Contacting your ward councillor or the mayor is one of the most direct ways to be heard between elections.

We list who's in office and link to their official profiles and the election results; we don't characterise anyone's politics. Party labels are those each councillor was elected under at the September 2024 election (NSW Electoral Commission) — six of the ten sitting councillors were declared with an Independent (IND) group code, and the NSWEC results show no group code for Lachlan Ford, Patricia Bates-Canty or Kylie Baty, so their affiliation is left blank here rather than guessed. Victor Bartley took his seat through a casual-vacancy countback in March 2026 and is likewise left blank. Casual vacancies can change the makeup, so the council's official page has the most current list.

Sources — check it yourself

Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.