RECENTLY retired councillor Peter Fussell has spoken out about his disappointment with the selection of candidates for this weekend's election.
Mr Fussell resigned from council in March after three difficult years that saw him lose his business and suffer serious mental health issues.
He had been involved in a stoush with council watcher and current mayoral candidate Lance Perry throughout his tenure, culminating in a court order that prevented Mr Perry attending meetings for two years.
He believed the low number of councillor candidates for this year's election 16 reflected the community's hesitance to deal with the criticism that came with representing the community.
"Some of the history of what has happened at council has probably stopped people running for council and that's a real pity," Mr Fussell said.
"I'm disappointed there's not more of a spread of people running it would have been great to see more women and some younger people.
"The other disappointing thing is that there are people with agendas, which is bad both for council and for the people of Griffith."
Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, at least three new councillors will be sitting in the chamber next Tuesday night.
One of nine mayoral candidates will take the most coveted seat in the house.
Mr Fussell reiterated his long-standing idea for photos of each of the councillors to be displayed prominently at council, a reminder they were 12 individuals and should vote accordingly.
He said he would have supported Cr Pat Cox if she had run for mayor and commended Cr Allan Bennett for nominating exclusively for the top job.
"Obviously he has decided he would like to be there, but only if he can be in a position where he can influence what's going to happen rather than just being one of the 11 councillors," Mr Fussell said.
Council's financial position is set to be one of its biggest issues over the next four years, but Mr Fussell believed the current councillors were going about it the wrong way.
"Some of the biggest priorities should be returning council to financial stability and unearthing new tourism opportunities, like maybe a Bollywood festival or something else that celebrates our multicultural community," he said.
"On top of that, council needs to remember that a lot of people are doing it tough and need a break in terms of rates and charges."
