JOHN Fry was one of four incumbent councillors on the ballot paper who found themselves out of job after the December 4 election, but he has no regrets about his performance over the last four years.
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Mr Fry became a Bathurst Regional councillor in 2017 and was one of three new faces to be elected.
He ran as a candidate for the Greens, making it clear that environmental and sustainability issues were his priorities.
As such, he was a strong supporter of related policies when he became a councillor.
Mr Fry went back and forth on running for re-election in 2021, but ultimately led a ticket of five candidates and ran as an independent, not a Greens Party candidate.
He narrowly missed out on being one of Bathurst's nine councillors, coming in 10th overall.
Mr Fry said that, based on his first preference vote, he was optimistic that he would be elected ninth, however that all changed on December 20.
"The preference system just didn't favour me this time and that's the luck of the draw," he said.
"I was quite happy with my vote and the effort my team put in, I think we did everything we could and we just got flipped by the preference system."
Despite the result, he is satisfied with his performance as a councillor, feeling he achieved a lot.
"There is a list of things that I'm claiming I was instrumental in, but I'm not claiming anything exclusively. I was part of a team, but I was a primary driver of a lot of things," Mr Fry said.
He said he is most proud of his lobbying efforts to stop a go-kart track being built on land at the back of McPhillamy Park.
His hope is that it will result in the long-term protection of McPhillamy Park as a community space.
He is also proud of council's Renewable Energy Action Plan, the installation of solar panels at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and other critical infrastructure, council's climate change framework, his involvement in the St Pats brick pits wetland, and helping to introduce water restrictions.
Now no longer a councillor, he will be keeping busy with his consulting work in landscape management.
Mr Fry is unsure about whether or not he will run for council again in the future, but for the moment he is satisfied with the council that the community has elected.
"I would have liked to do another term, but I think we've got a good council, a good line-up and I think it's a good, positive outcome for council," he said.
One of the new councillors is his son, Ben Fry, who was recently elected deputy mayor. His dad thinks he will do a good job for the city.
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