Holding an extraordinary election to fill the vacancy would have cost the cash-strapped shire an extra $22,000 and wiped out more than half of this year’s March-revised $40,000 projected budget surplus.

In addition, a newly elected councillor would have sat for only three council meetings before the remainder of their four-year term expired in October.

The WA Electoral Commission wrote last month that it would approve a May council decision to defer an election until October.

It will be the first time all Toodyay voters decide who fills the seat after the 2017 vote was restricted to only those living in the now-abolished former West Ward – which includes Morangup – when former Cr Greenway was re-elected with 214 votes.

Crs Brian Rayner and Therese Chitty, whose four-year terms also expire in October, are the only other two remaining councillors who have never faced all Toodyay voters.

Nobody voted for Cr Rayner in 2017 when he was the only candidate to stand in the now-abolished North Ward, and Cr Chitty was elected in the former East Ward with with only 284 votes.

A total of 2575 Toodyay electors were enrolled to vote in 2017, and 3425 in 2019.

Cr Ben Bell topped the shire’s historic first postal ballot of all Toodyay electors in 2019 with a record 1126 votes when ward restrictions were abolished.

A council forum in April discussed whether more money could be saved by cutting the number of Toodyay councillors from nine to seven, as in neighbouring Goomalling, Chittering and York.

The Local Government Advisory Board said last month that it was too late this year to elect a smaller council in October.

The board said it needed to be formally notified of an absolute majority vote of at least five supporting Toodyay councillors by January 31 in a local government election year.

The board would then take a further six to nine months to review and publish its decision in the WA Government Gazette.

This needed to be done by June 30 in an election year to enable the WA Election Commission (WAEC) to modify the poll.

“The good news is that if your Shire decides to commence a representation review (via council resolution) soon, then you will be well ahead of the game for the 2023 LG elections!” the board wrote.

Cutting the council’s size was omitted from last month’s decision to leave former Cr Greenway’s seat empty until October.

Councillors voted 7-0 (Cr Bell absent on council-approved leave) to seek WAEC approval to defer an extraordinary election until the state-wide October poll.

A report on a WA Government inquiry into Toodyay Shire Council and its administration listed 25 adverse findings against former shire CEO Stan Scott and the previous council.

It said the former council failed to properly manage the former CEO’s behaviour and actions over the seven-year period investigated.

Those held responsible include two current serving councillors whose four-year terms expire in October.

They are former Toodyay shire president Brian Rayner (right) and former shire deputy president Therese Chitty (far right).

Adverse findings against the former council and the former CEO were tabled in State Parliament last October.

Mr Hammond’s independent review is scheduled to be finalised on September 30.

A final report and recommendations are due to be submitted to the State Government according to a timetable agreed by the WA Local Government Department.

Director General Duncan Ord last month granted a request by the debt-laden current council that the State – not Toodyay ratepayers – cover the review cost.

Management consultant Hammond Woodhouse Advisory was selected behind closed doors at last month’s council meeting.

The contract price was kept confidential.

The shire had earlier estimated the cost at between $20,000-$50,000, which would have wiped out most or all of this year’s $40,000 shire budget surplus.

In a letter dated April 13 tabled at last month’s council meeting, Mr Ord wrote to Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst noting the “positive and proactive manner that the shire has responded to the recommendations of the authorised inquiry report”.

He asked the shire to “complete the current request for a quotation” and said his department would pay for the review “in accordance with the Shire of Toodyay Scope for Work of Governance Review previously provided by the department”.

Mr Ord said his department would also need to agree to who conducted the review.

Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst said the department had provided a template for the governance review terms of reference to use as the basis for its scope.

It was emailed to councillors for feedback before quotes were sought.

Former Toodyay Progress Association chair Larry Graham (pictured left telling a 2019 WA Parliamentary Select Committee hearing that five local councils, including the Shire of Toodyay, should be axed and merged into a single new Avon Regional Authority) told last month’s council meeting that the invitation to seek quotes “should not have been made”.

He said the review terms of reference had not been authorised by the Director General of the Local Government Department, as recommended in the inquiry report.

It was not enough that it be approved by the department, he said.

“The administration of neither the shire nor the department know what the council or the Director General may or may not approve,” Mr Graham said.

“It’s not dancing on the head of a pin.

“You are not allowed to be ambushed and you have been.”