Anne Napoli was voted deputy mayor of Griffith, a role she held in the previous term of council. Photo: Griffith City Council.
Veteran councillor Anne Napoli was elected deputy mayor of Griffith at the inaugural meeting of the new term of council on Tuesday (22 October).
Ms Napoli edged Jenny Ellis 5-4 in a vote among councillors to earn the right to serve in the second top job for the next year.
New councillors Mark Dal Bon, Scott Groat and Tony O’Grady joined the re-elected Christine Stead in voting for Cr Napoli, while Mayor Doug Curran, Laurie Testoni and Shari Blumer backed Cr Ellis.
“Thank you for trusting me for the next 12 months as deputy mayor and I look forward to working with you Mr Mayor,” Cr Napoli told the meeting.
In Griffith, the mayor is popularly elected by residents, while the deputy mayor position is chosen by other councillors.
Cr Napoli narrowly lost the September mayoral contest to Cr Curran by just 1.5 per cent, achieving a substantial increase in her vote share after also running for mayor in 2021. She has served on council since 2004.
During the last term of council, Cr Napoli campaigned against a special rate variation (SRV), a substantial increase in council rates which other councillors argued was necessary to avoid a cut in services and keep the council financially viable.
All councillors who have spoken out against the SRV voted for her to be deputy mayor, while the councillors who had backed the SRV supported Cr Ellis.
“In previous times we’ve done this, we’ve had the opportunity to speak to the group before the election of deputy mayor, but we haven’t had the opportunity to speak tonight,” Cr Ellis said after the deputy mayor was elected.
Councillors Dal Bon, Stead, Blumer, Groat, Curran, Testoni, Ellis, Napoli and O’Grady will represent Griffith at the local government level over the next four years. Photo: Griffith City Council.
General manager Brett Stonestreet explained it was not a requirement under regulations that the candidates are offered the opportunity to speak.
The deputy mayor vote was preceded by debate over how long the position should run for and the method in which councillors would decide the outcome.
“If council does decide to elect a deputy mayor, then the term needs to be decided; it can be the term of the mayor [4 years] or less,” Mr Stonestreet said.
Cr Stead said the term should be for just one year, a motion which received unanimous support.
“I think we have some new and old around the table … that probably have aspirations for becoming deputy mayor … it’s fair that it be for one year,” Cr Stead said.
Debate then turned on how the deputy mayor would be elected.
Cr Groat wanted it to be done by secret ballot, while Cr Blumer and Cr Dal Bon argued that it should be an open vote show of hands.
“The rest of our voting is open and transparent, I would hate to think that if people thought that if they didn’t vote for somebody for deputy mayor that there would be repercussions,” Cr Blumer said.
This argument was supported by a majority of councillors, who then showed their hands to give Cr Napoli the deputy mayoral role.
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