Thursday, December 4, 2008

How is the Mayor elected?



This evening the new "Councillors elect" met to discuss who should be
Lord Mayor of Manningham. We had a very good session, and I am very
heartened that we were unanimous in wanting to know as much as
possible about each other and the skills we would bring to the role,
before making an informed decision on who should be the "face of the
city". This term, with an odd number of councillors, the Mayor no
longer has a casting vote. In my opinion, this together with the
collaborative & democratic nature of decision making at council
meetings, puts the focus of the Mayor's role squarely on facilitation,
communication and team-/community-building. Just being the Mayor does
not mean that he or she "calls the shots". Being Mayor is an extension
of the tremendous privilege and responsibility to our community that
already comes from being an elected councillor. In the coming days,
our team of councillors elect (for we are not officially councillors
until the "swearing-in ceremony") will meet again to vote on who
should be Mayor for 2008-2009. Stay tuned and you'll read it first
here when the decision is made!

For those who are interested in the details of the election process, e-
mail me for an extract from the relevant bylaws (publicly available
information). In a nutshell,
1. Councillors nominate (seconds not required)
2. All Councillors vote by show of hands
3. If one candidate achieves a majority vote (at least 5 of 9 in our
case), they are elected Mayor.
4. Otherwise, candidate with lowest number of votes is eliminated and
we return to step 2, with all councillors voting but one less candidate.
5. If there is more than one candidate with joint lowest number of
votes, the first candidate of these to be "drawn from a hat" is
eliminated (the Hand of God, or luck depending on your view!)

Please note this is just my personal summary of the process and E&OE
applies (errors & omissions excepted)!

On a final note regarding Mayoral election, I would personally favour
a popular vote by the residents at the time councillors are elected,
just like in the City of Melbourne.

Stay tuned and you'll read it first here when the decision is made!

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