Wagga Wagga City Council’s new Mayor Dallas Tout and Deputy Mayor Jenny McKinnon. Photo: City of Wagga Wagga.
The nine new councillors of Wagga Wagga City Council have elected their new Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Longstanding Deputy Mayor Dallas Tout has been elected into the top job as Wagga Wagga City Council Mayor.
Jenny McKinnon will join him as new Deputy Mayor.
Dan Hayes was the only other contestant in both votes. Councillors voted 7-2 in favour of Mr Tout as Mayor, and 5-4 in favour of Ms McKinnon as Deputy Mayor.
The election is a significant source of pride for Mr Tout, more than 25 years after the first time he ran for a council position in Wagga Wagga.
“Thank you to the councillors for their faith in me for the next term of Mayor of Council,” he said. “Congratulations to Councillor McKinnon for the election as Deputy Mayor.
“I’d like to thank my family for all their support. They were around when I first stood in 1996, and they were handing out lollies and ‘how to votes’ for dad so without that support for the past 25 years, that’s where my passion started, and that’s why I’m getting emotional now.”
The next mayoral elections in Wagga Wagga will be held in September 2023, a shorter term than usual due to the postponement of ordinary council elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents of the City of Wagga Wagga narrowly voted against changing to a system that would see a popularly elected mayor.
This means it will remain the responsibility of the nine councillors to determine mayoral roles moving forward.
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