After six years steering Tweed Shire through floods, fires, border closures and a cyclone, Mayor Chris Cherry has decided it is time to hand over the reins.
Cr Cherry will not seek another term as mayor when councillors vote for the position on September 17, although she will remain on Council for the rest of the current term.
The independent councillor was first elected to Tweed Shire Council in 2016, served three years as deputy mayor and became mayor in 2020. She has remained in the top job ever since.
Her time as mayor has included COVID-19 and the Queensland border closures, the 2022 floods and their long recovery, and more recently ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
When re-elected unopposed in 2024, Cr Cherry said affordable housing and managing the Tweed’s rapid growth while protecting the Shire’s amenity and environment would be among her key priorities.
Housing has since become one of Council’s biggest challenges, with rental vacancies around one per cent and median house prices almost doubling since 2019. Council figures also show more than 500 homes were destroyed or made uninhabitable in the 2022 floods.
Speaking about her decision to step aside, Cr Cherry said the pressures of leadership had taken their toll and that the time had come for someone else to take over.
Her departure from the mayoralty means Tweed councillors will choose a new civic leader at their September 17 meeting.
Cr Cherry will, however, remain around the Council table, where housing, flood recovery, growth and the small matter of keeping one of NSW’s fastest-changing coastal shires pointed in roughly the same direction are unlikely to disappear any time soon.
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