THE race to become Bathurst's next mayor has taken another twist with new councillor Marg Hogan confirming she was considering contesting this afternoon's ballot.
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Cr Hogan, who will be one of five new faces when the new Bathurst Regional Council meets for the first time on Thursday afternoon, said she had a signed nomination form ready to go but was not yet 100 per cent committed to running.
She said it had been a "hectic" couple of days as mayoral candidates sought to shore up votes and she had only decided on Wednesday evening that she might join them.
On Thursday morning it appeared Ian North, Robert "Stumpy" Taylor, Jess Jennings and Graeme Hanger were all intending to run for mayor and, if Cr Hogan joins them, we could see five of the nine councillors throwing their hat in the ring for the city's top job.
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Cr Hogan believed she could work with all the councillors and might be the right person to ensure greater unity on council.
"My reasoning [for considering running] is that my whole campaign was community-focused and as I've been listening to the community for the past four or five months it's obvious that what they want is unity," she said.
"Looking ahead there are a lot of delicate conversations we need to have, such as negotiating a path through the Section 10 [protection order application on Mount Panorama Wahluu].
"I just feel I'm Switzerland, I'm neutral and I could be the person in the middle to bring a lot of disparate groups together."
Cr Hogan said she would keep hitting the phones this afternoon and make a final decision on whether to run based on the numbers.
Councillors will meet at 4.30pm to vote for a new mayor and deputy mayor.
The meeting is open to the public and will also be live-streamed on council's Youtube channel.
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