The appointment of the new mayor of Gosnells in last month’s local government elections has had different reactions from ratepayers.
City of Gosnells mayor Glen Dewhurst was named the new mayor following two rounds of voting between Mr Dewhurst, Ron Mitchell and Peter Abetz all tied on four votes.
To break the deadlock the names were put in a barrel and the name of the new mayor was picked out.
Gosnells Going Forward chairman Leon Walker said the mayor was selected in a lottery drawn by the chief executive with a one-in-three chance of being selected.
“My understanding is that what followed completely complies with the legislation,” he said.
“However my view is that the mayor should be directly elected by the electors of the City of Gosnells and not by the council for two reasons.”
Mr Walker said the first was that it increased transparency and secondly it reduced or eliminated the occurrence of mayoral aspirants forming tickets of election candidates in order to secure votes to be elected mayor should candidates on the ticket be elected.
“Another reason to directly elect the mayor is that it may stimulate greater interest in the City of Gosnells election generally and a greater voter turnout,” he said.
“Although the voter turnout increased to 28 per cent in this month’s election up from 25 per cent in the 2015 election it is still pathetically low in my view.”
Mr Walker said the status quo needed to be challenged by directly electing the mayor.
Gosnells Districts Ratepayers Association member Sandy Bariolo said she always thought residents should elect the mayor but following the election she has changed her mind.
“I agreed with the manner in which the mayor was elected as none of the other candidates were prepared to relent and it would have continued,” she said.
“In the first instance five councillors put their hands up to do the job and I listened intently to the speech by each person and there was a clear winner.
“One with a fresh new approach, new ideas, new way of working as a team this can only be better for the ratepayers.”
City of Gosnells chief executive Ian Cowie said it was the first occasion in Gosnells at which the successful candidate for mayor had been drawn from a barrel.
“While it isn’t common for the election of a mayor to be determined by drawing a name from a barrel the Local Government Act 1995 allows only two rounds of voting by councillors to elect a mayor,” he said.
“If votes remain tied after the second round of voting the Act requires the winner to be determined by drawing a name from a barrel.”
Mr Cowie also said there were advantages and disadvantages with popularly elected and council elected mayors.
“With mayors elected by council, generally the mayor will have the support of the majority of councillors and is therefore in a stronger position to speak on behalf of council and advocate council’s views,” he said.
