By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
SAM Aziz was elected the new mayor of Casey on Monday after no-one else nominated for the role during the public meeting.
Star News understands Cr Gary Rowe planned to nominate himself but backed away at the last minute after it was made clear he wouldn’t have the numbers in a private council meeting prior to the public election at 5.30pm on Monday.
Apart from councillors Rowe, Rafal Kaplon, Susan Serey and Rosalie Crestani, the rest of the chamber stood in favour of Cr Aziz’s appointment.
Cr Crestani raised dissent but was not permitted to air it by Cr Mick Morland, who oversaw the election in one of his last official duties as the 2015 mayor.
Cr Aziz, who served as mayor in 2011, was appointed to the position again despite the Councillor Conduct Panel earlier his month issuing a finding of misconduct against him for referring to Cr Kaplon as a “parasitic mosquito” in an email.
Both councillors told Star News last week the issue had been resolved.
After donning the mayoral robes and re-entering the council chambers following a welcoming call from the town crier, Mayor Aziz said it was a “great honour” to be elected into the position for a second time.
“I’m very humbled by the opportunity and the confidence shown to me by the vast majority of my colleagues,” he said.
“Last time I served as mayor we achieved some great things and I think we’ll do it again this time around. The city’s larger and more challenging so we’ve got lots to do and to accomplish for all our residents.”
He said council needed to ensure those disadvantaged in Casey were taken care of.
“We need to basically look after the disadvantaged of our community given all the social issues that are occurring and that’s why the work that we’ve done with Victoria Police and that we continually do is so very important,” Cr Aziz said.
