Councillor John Cumming is the new mayor of Maribyrnong City Council. 74651 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Alesha Capone
COUNCILLOR John Cumming has become the new mayor of Maribyrnong, replacing Cr Sarah Carter at a meeting last Wednesday.
The area’s councillors voted Mr Cumming, the Saltwater Ward representative, into the position last week, after he was the only nominee for the role.
Cr Martin Zakharov and Cr Dina Lynch were absent from the meeting, so did not vote on the decision.
In addition, Cr Michael Clarke, a former mayor himself, was voted in as Maribyrnong’s new deputy mayor.
After he was named mayor, Cr Cumming spoke to Star and said there could be a potential major sporting development in Maribyrnong during his term as mayor.
“There’s the real possibility of a second swimming pool,” he said.
Cr Cumming said the new pool could be located in the “southern part of the municipality”.
Presently, the municipality has three pools, all located at the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre.
The new mayor also spoke passionately about sensible development and protecting Maribyrnong’s heritage, but said he could not choose a top priority for his mayoral term.
“I think there’s no number one thing, it’s a question of progression,” he said.
“Before I got elected, I wanted more open space in the CBD, and now we have a reserve and park in planning, so it’s nice to have an outcome, something is actually happening.”
Cr Cumming said his biggest challenge as mayor would be “getting the social planning right” such as deciding where the new parks, libraries and gymnasiums should be located.
Cr Cumming also said he was looking forward to “meeting interesting people” during his upcoming time as Mayor, and thanked the other Maribyrnong councillors for electing him to the position.
“What I would say is, it’s probably the last thing I expected,” he said.
“Sincerely, when you become a councillor, mayoralty’s the last thing you expect.”
