At council's first meeting of the new year and new term, Glen Andreazza was appointed deputy mayor from now until September after all councillors took their oaths.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The meeting began with the formalities of councillors taking their oath for the benefit of those watching either in person or through the livestream. While most had already pledged their oath or affirmation in private earlier, all elected to retake the oaths in front of the public they promised to serve.
With the formalities over, elections for deputy mayor took place. Returning councillors Anne Napoli, Christine Stead and Glen Andreazza all stood for the position but Glen Andreazza took it with seven votes against Christine Stead's five.
Council also elected new delegates to send to the Local Government NSW Annual Conference, coming up in February. While previously, councillors Anne Napoli and Rina Mercuri were set to go, Rina Mercuri is no longer a member of council.
Councillors Jenny Ellis and Chris Sutton both volunteered and were recommended to attend, with Sutton acting as council's representative in terms of voting.
In news on the committee structure, council resolved to immediately suspend all committees and working groups to begin a review of how the committees are structured and operated.
READ MORE:
Exempt from the freeze will be the Western Riverina library team and the Pioneer Park Committee, with both committees continuing to operate as normal in order to keep the services going.
Councillor Napoli's motion to organise a meeting with the business chamber, along with Griffith's state and federal members was met with approval. Mayor Doug Curran confirmed that he had met with federal minister Sussan Ley and had reached out to the business chamber to begin the steps in repairing a historically fraught relationship.
His meeting with state representative MP Helen Dalton was organised but had to be cancelled due to personal reasons from Ms Dalton.
Council will next meet on February 8.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.areanews.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram