West Tamar mayor Christina Holmdahl elected as LGAT president

Cr Holmdahl served as mayor of West Tamar since 2014 and was re-elected in late 2018.

She said she was thrilled to be elected as LGAT president.

"It shows that a lot of the councils recognise the leadership qualities that I show in my council," Cr Holmdahl said.

"I have been in local government for ten years so I'm very up-to-date with the sort of issues we face as a sector.

"I've been involved with recent issues that have affected how local government was going to work."

Cr Holmdahl admitted she has big shoes to fill when she takes up the role next month, relieving City of Clarence mayor Doug Chipman as president.

"I will take a lot of guidance from the retiring president and the chief executive officer as to how best represent our sector," she said.

As one of the mayors involved in amalgamation talks over the past year, Cr Holmdahl said the issue would continue to be discussed among LGAT going forward.

"I believed that in the case of ourselves and George Town, it was a good thing to consider for both councils," she said.

"We [West Tamar] were very happy to go through the total process and see if it was something that would benefit our council or not.

"It might happen again in the future, I think it's up to councils to decide for themselves what is best for them, I don't subscribe to forced amalgamations.

"As time goes by I think it will be a topic that will be discussed."

Cr Holmdahl will be the first women president of LGAT since former Flinders Island mayor Lynn Mason in the early 2000s.

She said it was great to be part of the upward trend of women involved in the local government sector.

"I think what is interesting is if you look at the number of women now being elected to local government, it's pretty impressive," she said.

"It's been a while, so from that point of view it's pleasing as well."

Break O'Day mayor Mick Tucker was elected as committee member for the Northern Electoral District with a population less than 20,000 people.

Cr Holmdahl was the only candidate to run as the representative of a Northern Electoral District with a population exceeding 20,000.

A by-election will be held for the position in July.

Circular Head Council mayor Daryl Quilliam and Devonport City Council mayor Annette Rockliff were elected as North West and West Coast district members.