FOR the first time in more than a decade Queanbeyan has a new mayor. 

Following the retirement of Tim Overall late last year, the newly elected Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) recently voted Kenrick Winchester into the top job.

Having taken on the role in recent weeks, Cr Winchester is still adjusting to the competing demands of the position, alongside his job as a fleet manager and raising a young family.

But the 39-year-old Canberra Raiders fan who has lived in Queanbeyan his entire life is excited about the challenge that lies ahead.

“I’m still learning in terms of my role as mayor on how to run an effective meeting,” Cr Winchester said.

“We had an amendment to an amendment on a motion that we shouldn’t have had at a recent meeting, but I now know. I’ve got another training course on how to chair meetings coming up, but it’s good.”

In a clean break from the past, the newly elected council bears little resemblance to the one it replaces, containing nine new councillors and two returning councillors, and a record number of women. 

In another first, Queanbeyan has also elected its first indigenous councillor Esma Livermore, who has secured the position of deputy mayor.

“I’m genuinely excited by the councillors that have been elected. There’s a youthful enthusiasm amongst the new councillors compared to the previous council,” Cr Winchester said.

“Everyone has come in with clear eyes, and their own ideas. We don’t have any shrinking violets, and so far everyone is working together well.”

One of the challenges facing the newly elected council is addressing a $10 million deficit in the council’s general fund.

“One of the big ones is the Ellerton Drive Extension, we need to depreciate that each year because the road needs to be replaced every 20 years,” said Cr Winchester.

“That’s a $4 million hit to our bottom line every year in order to save the money needed to eventually replace the road.”

Cr Winchester, who was first elected to council in 2012, said the council will consider a range of options to address its budgetary position, one of which may involve a rate rise.

“If we do need to go down that path we have to be really clear with the community as to why we want to raise rates above a rate peg and explain to them why we have ended up in this situation,” said Cr Winchester.

Given the shorter than usual two-and-a-half year term as mayor, Cr Winchester’s priority is to see existing projects through to fruition, such as Queanbeyan’s $15 million main street upgrade, and a $74 million civic and cultural precinct, which includes a new head office for council staff.

“We have a hell of a lot going on at the moment,” Cr Winchester said.

“We need to build a new sewage treatment plant, so let’s turn the sod and get that going. We have two regional sports complexes coming at Bungendore and Jerrabomberra, so let’s get them off the ground, and start cutting ribbons.”

While the new mayor has set out his priorities, the community of Braidwood has found itself without direct representation on the new council, with seven of the 11 councillors from Queanbeyan, two from Bundengore, one from Bywong and one from Wamboin. 

One consequence of council mergers, Cr Winchester argues, is the loss of direct representation for some communities on council.

“Part of the problems with council mergers is that they take the local out of local government because back in the day the Tallaganda Council – which was centred on Braidwood – would have had all councillors from Braidwood or the area,” Cr Winchester said.

“They merged with Yarrowlumla, which became Palerang Council, and then Queanbeyan-Palerang Council, and we now have no-one on council from Braidwood and no-one from Captains Flat.”

Cr Winchester’s family has a lengthy association with Queanbeyan and the region. His grandmother grew up in Monga, a small village near Braidwood, and his grandfather was raised in Captains Flat.

“My pop, his father, and all his brothers worked in the mine there and when it closed down, pop put a house on the back of a truck and drove it over to Queanbeyan, and that’s how we came to town,” said Cr Winchester.

Cr Winchester is a former Queanbeyan East Public School and Queanbeyan High School student. The father of three is keen to see the city retain its young people, and is looking at ways to encourage that.

“Some of our schools have a bad reputation, but I want to turn that around,” said Cr Winchester. 

“A lot of kids leave Queanbeyan for high school in Canberra and there’s no reason to do that. I completed my schooling in Queanbeyan and have been successful via a public education.”

For Cr Winchester, who is a member of the Labor Party but sits on council as an independent, politics is a world away from what he expected to be doing when he left school, having started out with the dream of managing an NRL footy club. 

“I always wanted to work for a rugby league club and did work experience for the Roosters, Bulldogs, Manly, and the Raiders,” Cr Winchester said.

“In 2004 I got offered a job with Surf Lifesaving Australia, but I wasn’t ready to leave Queanbeyan and move to Bondi, so moving into sport just never happened.”

Although the mantle of leadership has passed to a new council, Cr Winchester acknowledges the significant contribution former mayor Tim Overall had made in shaping the city, and is keen to build on that legacy moving forward. 

“The council over the last 10 years under Tim’s stewardship has done a good job, and I want to keep the town moving in the general direction that we have been pointed,” said Cr Winchester.