Baw Baw Shire Council is pleased to announce Cr Annemarie McCabe has been elected Mayor and Cr Michael Leaney has been elected Deputy Mayor following the statutory meeting held on Wednesday 16 November 2022.
In accordance with the Local Government Act 2020, Councillors put forward nominations for the position of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Cr McCabe was nominated for Mayor by Cr Jones with the motion seconded by Cr Tauru. Cr Gauci was nominated for Mayor by Cr Goss with the motion seconded by Cr Kostos. Cr McCabe was elected Mayor by a vote of 5 to 4.
Cr Leaney was nominated for Deputy Mayor by Cr Tauru with the motion seconded by Cr Jones. Cr Kostos was nominated for Deputy Mayor by Cr Wallace with the motion seconded by Cr Goss. Cr Leaney was elected Deputy Mayor by a vote of 5 to 4.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will each serve a 1-year term in their roles until November 2023.
Quote attributable to Mayor Cr Annemarie McCabe
"It is an honour and privilege to be given this opportunity to represent Baw Baw Shire as Mayor and I am very respectful of the trust placed in me. I pledge I will commit fully to the role as Mayor for the 2023 term.
I take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank our outgoing Mayor, Cr Michael Leaney for his leadership this past 12 months. His guidance, support, insight and knowledge has helped make me a more informed Councillor and he has been a great role model for me moving forward.
We are two years into the current Local Government term and under the leadership of our past two Mayors we have made a real difference. We have a population of roughly 57,000 people and we continuously strive to get the best outcomes for our community from new and upgraded sporting reserves, new libraries, leisure centre upgrades, community hubs, advocating for residents when they need their voice heard, and the list goes on.
There is always more work to be done and I commit to improving our community engagement and continuing to advance our advocacy efforts to seek infrastructure and services that meet the needs of our rapidly growing community.
This is a community I am proud to be a part of, honoured to serve and a community that should and will be supported to live their best life in Baw Baw Shire.
I thank Councillor Jones and Councillor Tauru for the nomination and am very much looking forward to being the Mayor of Baw Baw Shire for 2023".
Quote attributable to Deputy Mayor Cr Michael Leaney
"Over the past year a whole range of external factors including inflation, staffing challenges and construction delays have impacted Council. However, I believe we have risen to the challenges of this and have performed extremely well in continuing to deliver positive outcomes for our community of Baw Baw Shire.
For me, advocacy was a priority over the past year, and I am really pleased that over $15million of external funding was awarded to the Shire to cover a range of Council's advocacy projects. Importantly we also received a commitment from both sides of politics to invest and deliver a $600million new hospital for West Gippsland that our community have been advocating for for many years.
I have thoroughly enjoyed attending and formally opening a range of projects to serve our community for many years to come including the Rawson skatepark, something the community have been lobbying for for 15 years!
One of the biggest honours as Mayor has been presenting two citizenship ceremonies over my term and welcoming lots of new citizens who are choosing to call Baw Baw home.
I thank all the people who have assisted and supported me throughout my mayoral term. I've greatly enjoyed being Mayor, I believe it's been a productive and fruitful year and I look forward to the next year as Deputy Mayor and an East Ward Councillor."
Baw Baw Shire Mayor Annemarie McCabe and Deputy Mayor Michael Leaney.
Baw Baw Shire Council CEO Mark Dupe, Mayor Annemarie McCabe and Deputy Mayor Michael Leaney.
Baw Baw Shire West Ward Councillors, Tricia Jones, Annemarie McCabe and Keith Cook.
Baw Baw Shire Councillors, Danny Goss, Darren Wallace, Tricia Jones, Jazmin Tauru, Annemarie McCabe, Michael Leaney, Joe Gauci, Peter Kostos and Keith Cook.
