COUNCILLOR Tegan Swan has decided to run for Coffs Harbour Mayor, less than a week after Rodger Pryce announced his running for Mayor with Ms Swan listed at two on his ticket.

With Mr Pryce’s earlier announcement, several news broadcasters declared that Ms Swan would not be running for Mayor.

But, according to Ms Swan, the breakaway is not as dramatic as it sounds.

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She told News of The Area the situation arose from the Pryce advertisement running while the two parties were still discussing the finer details.

“In essence we were still discussing things and I had been thinking this would be a great partnership and to see how things unfold.

“He obviously was excited which was awesome but we probably needed to discuss it further,” explained Ms Swan.

“Some people asked me if I really wanted to be second on a ticket because if he loses I may not get in as a councillor.

“I hadn’t considered that,” she said.

Ms Swan asked Mr Pryce to consider a different model which would be a partnership if he ran for Mayor and with herself as number one for a Councillor.

“He wanted to be number one as is the tradition,” Ms Swan said.

And Ms Swan respects the decision made by Mr Pryce and Mr Pryce himself.

“I one hundred percent respect that.

“But being a councillor is important to me and I don’t want to risk losing that.”

“I thought we could have worked well together and the fact that we had the conversation and have a lot of respect for each other and I know they will do well as a ticket.

“You can have difficult conversations and change your mind and that’s the way things evolved.”

Ms Swan was encouraged to run for Mayor herself and with her announcement to run for Mayor now made public, she said she has been inundated with calls and messages to congratulate her.

“I do think we can change things up in all levels of government and my suggested model created a nice balance.
“He is an older guy which is quite the standard.

“And women under forty are such a minority in local government,” she explained.

But with the model unacceptable to Mr Pryce, Ms Swan will be following the advice of her supporters who encouraged her to go for it.

By Sandra MOON