THREE candidates have been elected unopposed in every Corangamite Shire council election since 2008.
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In the current election Jamie Vogels, Jo Beard and Kate Makin - have been elected without competition in their single councillor wards.
The shire has four single councillor wards and three councillors in the central ward. But should this change?
By 2024 the structure could change with the Victorian Electoral Commission expected to move to an unsubdivided shire or seven single councillor wards.
Former mayor Chris O'Connor said the current ward structure had the potential to limit the talent pool.
"I think on balance it's probably not a good idea because you can have the two best councillors in the shire living in the same single ward and it means basically the second best councillor in the shire hasn't got an opportunity to be elected," he said.
"I think if you have your best seven councillors elected, if they're good councillors, and it has certainly been my experience in Corangamite, if they're good councillors, they will represent those outlying areas well regardless."
Geoff Smith served 32 years in local government, firstly with the Hampden Shire and after the amalgamations he became Corangamite's inaugural north ward councillor.
The former mayor said given Corangamite's size the ward system worked well.
"In a shire where it's 150km from one end to the other I think with the single wards and the three in the central ward it's the right mix," he said.
"You know you have to spread the benefits right across the shire. I've stood in a number of elections and some were uncontested and others I had three people opposing me. It varies from time-to-time."
Outgoing mayor Neil Trotter said initially he was ambivalent about the structure but he now believed it worked well.
"I prefer the wards and some of the other councillors do as well because it gives people in the wards a focal point of who to go to," he said. "It makes sure that some of the areas that are more sparsely populated are represented well by people from that area."
Cr Trotter, who himself was elected unopposed in 2016, said he'd much prefer to see competition but it was difficult to get people to put their hand up.
"Usually if there's huge issues more people will stand," he said.
Corangamite Shire CEO Andrew Mason said the council's position was that the ward system worked well for the shire and ensured good local representation in the townships.
He said the VEC was expected to change the structure before the next election in 2024 and the new council would need to give the VEC a position on the two options.
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