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Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Uralla Shire is governed by a popularly elected Mayor plus eight councillors — nine people in total. The shire is currently divided into two wards, Ward A and Ward B, each electing four councillors; the Mayor is elected directly by voters across the whole shire, not chosen by the councillors. That arrangement is about to change: at a referendum held with the September 2024 election, voters rejected a question to have the Mayor elected by councillors and approved a question to remove the ward system, so from the next ordinary election Uralla will be an undivided council with a popularly elected Mayor. The councillors elect a Deputy Mayor from among themselves for a one-year term.

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

Mayor
Cr Robert Bell (Independent)Popularly elected — declared elected unopposed on 14 September 2024 (the mayoral contest was uncontested). Sworn in with the new council on 17 September 2024.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Kath Arnold (Ward B)The Deputy Mayor is elected by the councillors for a one-year term. Cr Tom O'Connor held the role for the council's first year (elected 24 September 2024); council's current page lists Cr Kath Arnold as Deputy Mayor.
Councillors
9 total — a popularly elected Mayor plus 4 councillors in each of Ward A and Ward B
How the Mayor is chosen
Elected directly by voters (popularly elected)A 2024 referendum question proposing that the councillors elect the Mayor was NOT passed, so direct election continues.
Wards
Two wards now; undivided from the next ordinary electionA 2024 referendum question on removing the ward system WAS passed, so at future elections voters will elect all councillors across an undivided council area.
Ward A by-election
Cr Stephen Wright elected at a by-election on 18 April 2026Eight candidates contested the Ward A vacancy; 1,796 formal votes were cast. Bruce McMullen (IND) led first preferences with 441 votes (24.55%) to Stephen Wright's (IND) 372 (20.71%), and Cr Wright was elected on the distribution of preferences. Council announced the formal declaration on 5 May 2026; he was sworn in at the 26 May 2026 ordinary meeting.

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) — the NSWEC results show an Independent (IND) group code for the Mayor and for Crs Blakester, O'Connor and Burrows, and no group code at all for Crs Arnold, Mailler, Doran and Philp, so their affiliation is left blank here rather than guessed. Cr Stephen Wright was elected at the April 2026 Ward A by-election with an IND code. All three 2024 contests (Mayor, Ward A, Ward B) were uncontested, so no votes were cast for them. The council's own councillor page does not state which ward each councillor represents; the ward shown here comes from the NSWEC declarations. Phone numbers and email addresses are those the council publishes on its councillor page. 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.