Perth Voice Interactive

WARREN McGRATH isn’t ruling out a political return.

The 38-year-old environmental consultant retired from Vincent council in October after one term, wanting to spend more time with family.

Commitments at work—he’s state manager at Eco Logical Australia—were also consuming a lot of time, and he didn’t want to half-heartedly serve on council.

“I was feeling that I wasn’t able to give 100 per cent,” the former deputy mayor says.

Mr McGrath was first elected in 2009. He and other non-party aligned faces at the time like Josh Topelberg and Matt Buckels shook up the traditionally Labor-heavy council.

“I felt council needed some new blood on it,” Mr McGrath says of the time.

His legacy lives on in ongoing environmental projects he was part of: He initiated the plan to increase the number of trees through the city, and his idea to replace water-guzzling lawns with more efficient native plants is being rolled out across 25 areas (the project out front of council HQ is just finishing now).

While he’s enjoying having Tuesday nights free, Mr McGrath says he’s considering another tilt further down the track, running for the merged Perth/Vincent council: “It’s the sort of thing I really enjoyed, and it’s a privilege to be able to serve the community.”

by DAVID BELL