By Charlene Macaulay
A quorum for this year’s mayoral election is in jeopardy with four councillors to miss the meeting and another two likely to follow suit.
Councillors Tony Hooper (state election candidate), Walter Villagonzalo (state election candidate), Josh Gilligan (campaigning for Labor party) and Heather Marcus (knee operation) will be on leave and unable to vote at the November 21 mayoral election.
Cr Villagonzalo has yet to apply for leave, but it is expected he will do so at the October council meeting in line with Municipal Association of Victoria guidelines which state that councillors who nominate for state or federal elections should apply for a leave of absence from the council between the date of nomination and close of voting.
Fellow councillors Aaron An and Intaj Khan were also thinking of contesting the state election. If they do, the council will not have enough numbers to hold the mayoral election, needing the majority of its 11 councillors to be present for it to go ahead.
This follows a failed motion by councillor Josh Gilligan last month to postpone this year’s mayoral election so councillors contesting the state election can participate.
Cr Gilligan insists his leave is not a move to force a change of date for the mayoral election, but said in light of the number of councillors taking time off over the same period he believes his motion was warranted.
“You’ll find that many metropolitan councils don’t schedule their mayoral vote for the final week of the state campaign because a lot of people involved in local government are politically active.
“This is a consequence really of not moving the date.”
