Mayor & councillors
Pyrenees Shire has five wards — Avoca, Beaufort, De Cameron, Ercildoune and Mount Emu — and each elects one councillor. The current council was elected in October 2024 and sworn in at Lexton on 12 November 2024. Voters don't elect the Mayor directly: the councillors elect the Mayor from among themselves at a Statutory Meeting held every November.
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.
Who represents you
- Mayor
- Cr Damian Ferrari (Beaufort Ward)Elected Mayor by the councillors in November 2025; he was also Mayor in 2020–21. He succeeded Cr Tanya Kehoe (Mayor 2024–25).List of Mayors →
- Deputy Mayor
- Cr Rebecca Wardlaw (Avoca Ward)Elected Deputy Mayor in November 2025.
- Councillors
- 5 in office, no vacanciesMatches the VEC's list of current councillors and the council's Councillors page (checked September 2026).
- Next mayoral election
- November 2026, at the council's Statutory MeetingThe council says the Mayor is elected at a Statutory Meeting held annually in November. The date wasn't yet on its meetings page in September 2026.Council meetings →
- Chief Executive Officer
- Sally Jones (Interim CEO)Appointed Interim CEO in July 2026. In September 2026 the council began recruiting a permanent CEO, with the executive recruitment firm Leading Roles; Ms Jones remains Interim CEO until an appointment is made.Council announcement →
- Council meetings
- Usually 6pm on the third Monday of the month, Council Chamber, BeaufortOpen to the public (the council asks you to register), with questions for public question time taken online. Meetings are streamed live. Remaining 2026 dates: 19 October, 16 November and 14 December.Meeting dates →
Your representatives
Damian Ferrari
Mayor / Councillor · Beaufort Ward
Rebecca Wardlaw
Deputy Mayor / Councillor · Avoca Ward
Megan Phelan
Councillor · De Cameron Ward
Simon Tol
Councillor · Ercildoune Ward
Tanya Kehoe
Councillor · Mount Emu Ward
Want to raise something? Contacting your ward councillor or the mayor is one of the most direct ways to be heard between elections.
Victorian council ballot papers and results don't show party affiliation, so we don't label councillors. We list who holds office, with the council email address the council publishes for each ward's councillor, and link to the election results. Each ward has one councillor, so if a seat falls vacant the VEC normally holds a by-election in that ward. For the latest list, see the council's page or the VEC.
Sources — check it yourself
- Pyrenees Shire Council — Councillors · Sep 2026
- Pyrenees Shire Council — councillor ward pages (Avoca, Beaufort, De Cameron, Ercildoune, Mount Emu) · Sep 2026
- Pyrenees Shire Council — Mayor (list of Mayors since 1996) · Sep 2026
- Pyrenees Shire Council — Council Meetings (2026 dates) · Sep 2026
- Pyrenees Shire Council — Executive Staff and Organisation Structure · Sep 2026
- Pyrenees Shire Council — Pyrenees Shire Council begins permanent CEO recruitment (22 Sep 2026) · Sep 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — Pyrenees Shire Council (current councillors) · Sep 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — 2024 Pyrenees Shire Council election results · Nov 2024
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.