GRIFFITH City Council saw a changing of the guard on Tuesday evening, with Councillor Simon Croce being elected to the position of Deputy Mayor.
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Mr Croce took over from long-serving Councillor Doug Curran, who previously held the position of Deputy Mayor for five of the last seven years.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the postponement of a ballot for Griffith City Council's Mayors and Councillors, but a necessity remained for the position of Deputy Mayor to be voted on.
When the votes came in, Cr Curran and Cr Croce were tied at five-a-piece, with the winner being decided by a hat draw.
"When you reach a tiebreaker you have to decide one way or another, there's no other way to do it," Cr Croce said.
"That's how it goes, it's happened many, many times before and that's democracy I guess.
"I would have been happy either way with the decision, but I'll take it."
The newly-elected Deputy Mayor said his plans are to lend a helping hand whenever he can, pledging to assist ratepayers, the Mayor and his fellow Councillors.
"My plan is to continue as we are, we've got a lot to get through and I want to help out where I can," Mr Croce said.
"I'm a Griffith person through and through, Hanwood born-and-bred and now living in Yoogali, which I love.
"I've got the community at heart and I'm just passionate about Griffith. I love this city, I've always been here and I don't plan on going anywhere too soon."
During the meeting, it was decided that Councillor Croce would be voted on first after his name was drawn, then he was officially elected after seeing his name drawn a second time.
"I must be unlucky, I had two chances of coming out of the hat first and I couldn't even win that in a two-person race," Cr Curran said.
"I must have run over a black cat or something, I don't know.
"But at the end of the day, it is what it is and there's no other fair way of doing it.
"Simon's been on council for 16 years and this is his first go at it, so good luck to him. He'll do a good job, I'm sure he will."
When asked by The Area News about any mayoral ambitions, Cr Croce responded by saying that nothing's for certain.
"I'm still tossing that idea around, we'll see how this year goes as deputy," Cr Croce said.
"A year is a long time in politics as anyone knows and a lot of things can happen in 12 months, so I wouldn't make any bold predictions at this stage."
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