Whittlesea mayor Aidan McLindon has refused to bow to calls for him to resign from the office of mayor.
Whittlesea’s 10 other councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday night to call for Cr McLindon’s resignation as mayor.
They also passed a vote of no confidence in Cr McLindon, citing his alleged breaches of the Model Code of Conduct and breaches of public confidence in the position of mayor and the wider council.
A petition calling for Cr McLindon to resign as mayor – signed by 1153 people – was tabled during the council meeting.
On Wednesday morning, Cr McLindon told Star Weekly he would not resign as mayor.
“On what grounds?” he said.
“I will continue to represent the City of Whittlesea without fear or favour.
“The calls for my resignations are baseless.”
Cr McLindon said the allegations levelled against him were “false” and described the vote by councillors as a “political flogging”.
He also questioned the validity of the petition.
“I question the validity of the petition given it is coming from Change.org. There is no validity of the signatures. I would not be surprised if the majority [of signatories] were not Whittlesea residents,” he said.
Cr McLindon said the calls for his resignation and vote of no confidence had strengthened his resolve to “stand up for Whittlesea”.
“I am not going to back down,” he said.
“My focus is always getting the best outcome for the City of Whittlesea.
“At the end of the day as councillors, we are elected to make decisions and our focus must be on doing the basics brilliantly. Last night was a political distraction that does not do any favours for the city.”
Cr McLindon also defended his decision to contest the Werribee by-election, noting it was his democratic right to nominate.
