By Goya Dmytryshchak
A former army helicopter pilot who works on riding and walking projects has become the first Greens mayor of Hobsons Bay.
Jonathon Marsden, of Strand ward, was elected mayor by his fellow councillors on Friday night.
Wetlands ward councillor and financial planning and mortgage-broker business owner Michael Grech was elected deputy mayor.
Both men have served on the council for two years.
Cr Marsden replaces outgoing mayor Angela Altair who had served in the role three times.
He said he believed in consensus decision making and was answerable only to the citizens of Hobsons Bay.
“I’ve accepted this invitation from my fellow councillors to do a role that I’ve really come to enjoy – representing the community and making decisions on behalf of ratepayers of Hobsons Bay,” he told Star Weekly after Friday’s mayoral election.
“I’ll be rolling out my mayoral program sometime in the December meeting, after consulting with my fellow councillors, and look forward to sharing that with the community at that meeting (December 11).”
Cr Marsden said his two areas of interest were transport and environment, with planning for climate change high on the agenda.
“Because we live on a coastal strip, the prospect of sea-level rise, storm surges and the associated inundation presents a real risk to our community,” he said.
“We’ve already done a lot of preparation and work to mitigate against the effects of climate change but we also aim to, not only adapt our physical infrastructure but also, reduce emissions.
“We have a goal of corporate reduction in emissions to zero emissions by 2020, and for the city as a whole in partnership with industry by 2030.”
The mayoral election was the first Hobsons Bay council meeting to be live streamed and can be viewed here.
