Members of the group were among those at last Wednesday’s council meeting, part of the 50 strong crowd in the public gallery at the start of the meeting.

Terry Hardwick addressed the meeting on behalf of the group and read a prepared statement regarding the September election outcome.

Mrs Hardwick said she was representing a number of residents of the shire who were “deeply disturbed out the recent mayoral election”.

She said the first preference vote obtained by Julie Lyford was a “landslide vote” that showed an “overwhelming endorsement” of her two years of mayoral leadership, and had given her a “clear, moral authority to lead the council”.

Mrs Hardwick said she believed there was now a groundswell of opinion in the shire that the community should be given the opportunity to elect the mayor, not the council and the issue would not go away.

“The election, though lawful, was immoral” and Mrs Hardwick called on Cr Slack to resign from his position as mayor.

A call that brought an immediate response from the crowd with several cheers and clapping.

Also speaking from the public gallery, Peta Tynan sought a commitment from council regarding its current policy on gas and mining and whether that policy, adopted some months ago, still applied.

Acting Mayor John Rosenbaum said yes, that the policy would remain in place until such time there was any change in policy.

Steve Robinson also addressed the meeting and queried council on the progress of a strategic planning review for the shire. Last year, both the council and the Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance called on the state government for a commission of inquiry into mining in the shire.

Council’s director of environment and planning Glenn Wilcox said that the commission of inquiry had been rejected by the government but council had received funding for a strategic review to look at a number of issues, from mining, to agriculture and tourism, in the shire, both the positives and negatives for these and other issues highlighted.

That review is currently out to tender and Mr Wilcox said the review will provide council with a far better document addressing the future of the shire.