Their respective teams, Group A and Group I, are well out in front as counting of the votes in the local government election continue to be counted.

Mr Fry's has a quota of 1.84, while Mr Taylor is not far behind with 1.8 quotas.

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Neither of them anticipated they would perform this strongly, but are grateful the community has faith that they can do the job.

"It's a privilege to get the majority's support. I think voters went to the polling booths looking for change and I was lucky to field a team of experienced people and professional people, so it was good to be able to show Bathurst that we could pull together a good working council," Mr Fry said.

Mr Taylor said his team felt "privileged and honoured that the community has given us those votes".

Both Mr Fry and Mr Taylor are in a position to get the number two candidates on their tickets onto council as well.

READ ALSO: Our say | Council's new faces and a new way forward

Kirralee Burke, the number two for Mr Fry, had not been expected to be elected, but Mr Fry believes she would be an asset for council if she is.

"Kirralee is interested in politics and she is a vocal community member. I'm not sure if she was prepared for this kind of response, and it's great the community has backed her in," Mr Fry said.

"I personally think she'll be a great councillor. She absolutely represents an important sector of the community, a very family-focused sector of the community, but importantly she is a woman.

"We need more women on council and, the more we get, the better."

Mr Taylor said he would like to bring his second, Andrew Smith, onto council, but he feels the odds of him getting a second are "50-50" at the moment.

A clash of personalities and opinions has been a sore point for Bathurst Regional Council during the last term, regularly resulting in five-four votes in the chamber.

There were also a number of code of conduct complaints lodged.

READ MORE: Cost to deal with recent code of conduct complaints confirmed

Mr Fry and Mr Taylor have reassured they can work together and with any of the candidates that are still in position to be elected.

"Everybody in the mix I can work with essentially. That's the problem that we had with previous councils, there was too much division, and I think that you've got a good mix of people that are prepared to absolutely hear each other out and work together," Mr Fry said.

Mr Taylor added, "There has been division over the last few years and I think we can quell that and bring everyone together. The candidates that are there, I feel we can all work together and put the city first before anything else."

Counting of the votes will continue over the coming weeks, with mail-in votes able to be received up until December 17. The final results should be known early the following week.

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