Wyndham’s new councillors, from left, Peter Maynard, Shane Bourke, John Gibbons, Intaj Khan, Adele Hegedich, Bob Fairclough, Gautam Gupta, Glenn Goodfellow, Marie Brittan and Peter Gibbons. Absent: Heather Marcus. 89348 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM’S most diverse council will represent the new challenges and opportunities facing the municipality, CEO Kerry Thompson has said.
The new council has grown to 11 following changes to the ward boundaries and a Victorian Electoral Commission review.
“We have people of different genders, ages and multicultural backgrounds reflecting our community’s broad range of circumstances,” Ms Thompson said.
“With this new mix of personalities will come fresh ideas and new ways of building on the successes we have achieved so far in Wyndham.”
While the new councillors faced training and briefing sessions from council staff last week, Ms Thompson recognised the contribution of councillors that were not successful in their re-election campaigns.
“I would also like to acknowledge the hard work and contribution of our outgoing councillors Kim McAliney, Cynthia Manson and Marcel Mahfoud. They should be extremely proud of the work they have done in serving their community and I wish them well in their future endeavours,” she said.
As the council was planning to meet last night to elect a new mayor, Ms Thompson said the role and responsibilities facing the new councillors would affect all Wyndham residents.
“As the fastest growing municipality in Victoria the role these councillors play in developing our community is vital. They will make decisions around infrastructure, policy and advocacy, as well as being representatives for Wyndham,” she said.
