The countback will be the fourth one since the last election.

Previous countbacks saw the departure of Glenda McLean, Paul Hooper and Darren Ford and the election of Fay Hull, Frank Deutsch and Bill Braithwaite, who all remain in their roles as councillors.

Cr Pettman was first elected to council in the 2016 October election and said his family had made the decision to return to their home town of Melbourne.

"We wanted to move back down to Melbourne to be closer to family," he said. "I've taken a new job in Melbourne in the quarry industry."

Cr Pettman first ran for council as a relative newcomer to Ararat out of a desire to bring his best to the shire.

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"I wanted to try and do my best to serve my new community," he said.

Cr Pettman described his time on the council as "terrific".

"I've enjoyed my time working with a lot of diverse people on council and meeting lots of people in the community," he said.

"I'm going to miss my time on council. It's a fabulous experience and I recommend anybody with any interest in communities put their hand up."

"I think the council is a lot better placed than it was when I first started.

"We went through a lot with the Commission of Inquiry and the changing of chief executive officer and I feel that the current CEO Tim (Harrison) is doing an outstanding job."

Cr Pettman also thanked long-serving councillor Gwenda Allgood for taking him "under her wing".

Cr Armstrong said that it was fortunate the Victorian Electoral Commission was able to conduct a countback to fill the vacant position due to the surplus number of 2016 candidates.

"If we didn't have surplus candidates, Ararat Rural City would be facing a costly by-election that could run into the tens of thousands of dollars," she said.

"A new council will be elected in just six months' time with local government elections scheduled across Victoria for October."

The countback will take place at 10.30am on May 7 and results will be published at www.vec.vic.gov.au.

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