SWAN Hill Mayor Michael Adamson has officially confirmed he doesn’t plan to stand in next month’s mayoral election, with one other councillor already putting his hand up to be his replacement.
Cr Adamson told The Guardian he will not contest Swan Hill Rural City Council’s mayoral election on Tuesday, November 10, deciding to stand down after just one term in the position.
“I’ll be stepping down at that stage and the vote will be taken and we’ll see who else is put into the position, who puts their hand up,” Cr Adamson said.
“At that stage, that will be the time to determine what will happen from there, but I’m certainly the mayor at this stage.”
At least one other councillor has declared an interest in contesting the election: Gary Norton.
Having already served as mayor between 2006 and 2008, Cr Norton said he was fit to perform the role as the council underwent certain changes.
“Council is facing some tough challenges at the moment and I think it needs someone with a bit of experience to lead it into next year,” he said.
Cr Norton was expected to contest last year’s election, but didn’t nominate after a last minute “change of allegiance” from one of the councillors led him to believe he didn’t have the numbers to challenge his then opponent, who turned out to be Cr Adamson.
Another former mayor, Les McPhee, said he would wait until closer to election day to decide whether he would throw his name in.
John Katis said he would be keen to stay on as deputy mayor.
Cr Adamson said he planned to continue on as councillor until the next local government elections in 12 months time.
