Farewell to three retiring councillors

The City of Fremantle said farewell to three retiring councillors at Wednesday night’s final council meeting before local government elections on Saturday 21 October.

Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge paid tribute to Councillors Bryn Jones, Rachel Pemberton, and Su Groome, noting the significant contributions each of the councillors have made to the city over the years.

Councillor Jones served on council for a total of 14 years (1993 – 1996 and 2015 – 2023) with the past four years as chair of the city’s planning committee.

Cr Jones was described as being synonymous with common sense and had always sought solutions in his roles as both a councillor and on the planning committee.

Councillor Rachel Pemberton represented City Ward for 12 years and in that time had served on several committees and working groups including more recently the Finance, Policy, Operations and Legislation Committee. She has also been a member of the Metro Inner-South JDAP as well.

Cr Pemberton said she was most proud of being involved in the stopping of Roe 8; the creation of the South Beach swimming zone; the renaming of Kings Square; and working on establishing the Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

“Being a City of Fremantle councillor had been an amazing experience and has allowed me to fall in love with my city over and over again,” Cr Pemberton said.

Councillor Su Groome was a councillor for four years and said she was stepping down due to the workload in her job and felt she couldn’t give the city her commitment to the level she felt was necessary.

Cr Groome’s impact on council has been significant with her chairing the Audit and Risk Management committee for the past two years, having served on the planning committee for the four years of her tenure, and her strong guidance through the COVID period.

Cr Groome said she enjoyed the collaborative and respectful environment in council and praised the City staff who she said had treated all councillors with “goodwill and respect”.

She sounded a warning as to Fremantle’s future as it deals with aging infrastructure and demands from increasing growth.

“There is more change ahead,” Cr Groome said. “We live in interesting times.”

Image: To the right of Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge are retiring councillors Rachel Pemberton, Bryn Jones and Su Groome.