COUNCILLOR Bill Moar was appointed Deputy Mayor at the November meeting of Swan Hill Rural City Council, but not before elected members were split on whether a deputy mayor was needed in the first place.
The council is not required to have a deputy mayor as per the Local Government Act (2020) but council has previously resolved to have the position to assist the mayor and council overall.
If the mayor is absent or cannot fulfill their duties, in accordance with the Act, council must appoint a councillor to be ‘acting mayor’, carrying out the mayor’s duties.
Cr Les McPhee, once Cr Jade Benham was made mayor and before nominations were called for deputy mayor, asked to discuss whether the role was necessary.
“I’d like to move a motion that we don’t have a deputy mayor – why should once councillor get $5,000 to $10,000 more?” he said.
“Under the Act, any councillor can be deputised.”
Cr Ann Young spoke for the motion, and said that due to Zoom the mayor no longer had as many travel responsibilities, and could therefore be more available.
Cr Bill Moar spoke against the motion, and said the deputy mayor was still an essential “Plan B”.
“The deputy mayor needs to step in if something happens, and needs to be a Plan B for the mayor at all stages,” he said.
Cr Stuart King also spoke against the motion, and said that with a large municipality and Cr Benham residing near Robinvale, having a deputy mayor that could be called upon to act in Swan Hill was “a practicality”.
“If you think about it in terms of sports, having a vice captain doesn’t stop the captain from doing their job, they’re just on hand,” Cr King said.
Cr Chris Jeffery also used a sporting metaphor, when speaking against the motion.
“We are here to work as a team – we don’t know what deputising a councillor would look like until it came into effect.
“So we should keep the system as is, it’s not broken.”
Cr McPhee argued that having any councillor being able to be deputy mayor would be more like teamwork.
“I still don’t know why we would have to pay someone $10,000 more to sit in a chair 2-3 times a year.”
A division was called for the votes, with Crs Les McPhee, Nicole McKay and Ann Young voting for the motion.
Crs Jade Benham, Stuart King, Bill Moar and Chris Jeffery voted against.
When nominations were called, Cr McPhee nominated Cr McKay and Cr Jeffery nominated Cr Moar.
Cr Moar won the nomination, five votes to two.
