By Alesha Capone
Wyndham councillor Mia Shaw has been elected mayor for the next 12 months.
Cr Shaw, who represents Iramoo ward, was elected unopposed at a council meeting last Wednesday.
Cr John Gibbons was elected as deputy mayor with a majority of six votes from other councillors.
Cr Josh Gilligan was also nominated for the role of deputy mayor.
After she was officially sworn in as mayor,
Cr Shaw spoke about when she was first elected to council two years ago.
“I ran for council in 2016 because I wanted to make a difference in the area I grew up in,” she said.
Cr Shaw’s family has a long history of serving the community – her great-grandfather William Shaw served as Werribee shire president on three occasions between 1917 and 1946.
Cr Shaw said it was “a great honour and privilege” to be to be elected mayor.
She said that during the coming 12 months, she was keen to work collectively with councillors and council staff.
Cr Shaw said that before the state election, the Labor party had made a number of commitments to fund various projects in the Wyndham area.
She said that while that was welcome, the council would continue to advocate for Wyndham.
“Whilst we did get a lot of things, the work continues,” she said.
“Because we’re still growing and people still need things and we didn’t get everything we wanted.
“We still know there are lots of things we need, around schools, around infrastructure, around a lot of services.”
Cr Shaw thanked her parents and six-year-old son Gus for helping her to “keep it real”.
Wyndham’s outgoing mayor, Cr Peter Maynard, described Cr Shaw as a “tireless worker”.
Cr Kim McAliney said she was happy to see that Cr Shaw would become the sixth female mayor of the city, out of about 150 mayors who have previously served the area.
… Alesha Capone
