A new moon over the lake in front of Whittlesea council offices signalled a new broom at town hall, and the ‘broom’ duly made its sweep as anticipated by outgoing mayor Rex Griffin.
The north ward representative had expected one of his more junior ward colleagues, Ricky Kirkham or Nicola Davis, would be standing in his place.
Cr Griffin told the Weekly he had the chance to be voted in as mayor for a second term but had decided one of the younger councillors should “have a go”, and so relinquished an opportunity to continue in a job he had relished for the past 12 months.
In fact, south-east ward councillor Mary Lalios became the new mayor of Whittlesea after a one-vote win over the only other nominee, Cr Davis, at a council meeting on Wednesday night.
Cr Lalios was elected to council in 2005 and this is her third term in the top job, having served as mayor in 2008 and 2009.
Her south-east ward colleague Stevan Kozmevski was elected deputy mayor.
Cr Kozmevski was elected to the council in 1997 and served as mayor in 2011.
When the vote at the council meeting hit five for Cr Lalios, Cr Griffin said he was “very disappointed” to see Cr Kirkham raise his hand in support of a third term in the top job for Cr Lalios, tipping the numbers against the bid of Cr Davis at 6/5.
“That was a shock,” Cr Griffin conceded, although he said he recognised that Cr Lalios was “a very astute person” with the experience needed to be mayor of such a fast-growing city.
Cr Kirkham told the Weekly his decision to throw his support behind Cr Lalios was done with the intention of presenting a united front and discontinuing simmering divisions that he said had no place in the council chamber.
“It was a very difficult decision to make and not one that I made lightly,” Cr Kirkham said.
“I understand the disappointment of other people, but I believe it was done in the best interest of the city, given the underlying tensions.” Cr Kirkham described local government as “a very interesting beast”.
The Weekly understands that both he and Cr Griffin have made similar submissions to the local government electoral review being undertaken by senior Liberal Party figure Petro Georgiou, supporting greater stability in local leadership by having popularly elected mayors for four-year fixed terms, as is the case in some other states.
Cr Lalios said she had the passion and enthusiasm needed to do the job.
“There are many challenges our city faces and I am committed to providing strong leadership to help deliver positive outcomes,” Cr Lalios said.
“There are a number of critical priorities for Whittlesea, such as a need for family violence services, a primary school in Epping North and Mernda South, and a police station in Mernda.
“We also have a critical backlog of transport needs, including the need for the state government to extend the rail line from South Morang to Mernda and build the O’Herns Road interchange on the Hume Freeway,” she said.
“For the ward I represent, the south-east ward, I would also like to see the state government extend the number 86 tram to South Morang.”
