About Your Mayor & Councillors

Emma Cole is a long-time resident of Mt Hawthorn with her husband and two children. Emma has experienced the growth and change in Vincent over the years and understands the importance of having fantastic facilities and open spaces for our growing population.

An advocate of Vincent’s unique lifestyle and community spirit, Emma is committed to ensuring our neighbourhoods are greener, pedestrian friendly and vibrant with more opportunities for people to come together through inclusive events and inviting places. Emma is passionate about reform in the way that Vincent serves our community, in how it engages and responds to issues and in stronger financial management. A critical issue for Emma is ensuring we have the best planning guidelines in place to protect the amenity of local residents, but also to achieve better design from developments.

Emma is now a full-time Mayor, but has a background as a public servant working in government policy. This has provided her with experience in effective project management, community consultation and a commitment to transparent and accountable decision making. Emma is the Chair of the Road Safety Advisory Group, Member of the Audit Committee, represents Vincent on the Mindarie Regional Council and Tamala Park Regional Council and is an alternate member of the Development Assessment Panel.

Alex is a small-business owner and long-term resident of Mt Hawthorn and has been actively involved in the Mt Hawthorn Primary School P&C and Board for many years, where her 2 daughters have attended. She was also on the committee of the Mt Hawthorn Hub for 3 years, and is keen to continue to support Vincent's unique town centres, public open spaces and wonderful lifestyle.

Alex is the Chair of the Children and Young People Advisory Group and is passionate about improving facilities and services for young people in Vincent. She is also a representative on the Urban Mobility Advisory Group and one of the City’s representatives on WALGA.

Joanne loves Vincent’s strong sense of community and has worked closely with local businesses and residents to deliver major festivals and community arts events such as the Light Up Leederville Carnival, the recent Leedy Open Streets on Oxford Street last March and the upcoming Leederville Fringe Festival.

Joanne genuinely enjoys connecting with people, discussing local issues and finding ways to make action happen on the ground and is a passionate advocate for community service, believing community involvement to be crucial to ensuring the right decisions are made of behalf of the community.

Having worked in the corporate sector for over 30 years and as a small business owner, Joanne understands firsthand the challenges faced by local businesses and the importance of sensible governance, consultation and keeping our town centres thriving and prosperous.

Dan loves living in Vincent with wife Fi, son Aidan and daughter Dylan, enjoying the many cafes, parks and playgrounds. He wants it to become an even more sustainable, liveable city. As an engineer, Dan has worked in the corporate and non-profit sectors, specialising in community engagement and working to find practical solutions to local needs. Dan feels privileged to use these skills to work with Vincent residents.

Dan wants to focus on the issues that matter: safer streets where pedestrians feel secure, upgrading our local parks and facilities for families and protecting the amenity of our character areas. He is passionate about sustainability and wants to see the City support residents in being more sustainable through practical and cost effective means that are already available in the wider community. Please contact Dan on any issue – he is here to listen!

Jimmy has lived and worked in the City of Vincent for almost 15 years.

With two children attending Highgate Primary School he is an active member of the community, and through his work as an event organiser has delivered the Leederville and Mt Hawthorn Street Festivals, successfully making good decisions, managing people and adhering to strict budgets.

Bringing new energy and fresh ideas to council with a strong focus on integrity, service and community engagement, Jimmy currently chairs the City’s Arts Advisory Group, is a member of the Business Advisory Group and is heavily involved in the City’s Town Teams.

Passionate about community building and participatory democracy, Jimmy is proud to be a part of a leading, progressive local council and community.

Cr Josh Topelberg has over 100 years of family history living and working in Vincent. He is married to a school teacher and has a young son. Josh manages his family’s business that has operated in Vincent for over 50 years. He is also a Board Member of the Australian Furniture Association and chairs their Strategic Planning Committee.

A true local, Josh’s daily life rarely takes him out of Vincent. He is keen to see further development of Vincent as a hub for art, design and creativity in Western Australia and has a strong interest in the local business community. Passionate about community and cultural development, Josh is committed to independent local government that actively consults with the community.

Josh is a representative on the Audit Committee, Arts Advisory Group, Local Business Advisory Group, Community Consultation Review Working Group, Claisebrook North Community Liaison Group and Cheriton Street Property Working Group. He is the chairperson of both the Local History and Heritage Advisory Group and Building Design and Conservation Awards Advisory Group. Josh is also the City's Member on the Tamala Park Regional Council and represents Vincent on the Metro-West Joint Development Assessment Panel.