Stony Creek ward councillor Nam Quach is the new mayor of Maribyrnong.
Cr Quach was elected mayor for the next 12 months at a special meeting of council on Wednesday night, collecting four votes to three in the ballot against Cr Martin Zakharov.
The four independent councillors banded together to back Cr Quach, who takes the reins from Grant Miles.
Cr Quach paid tribute to Cr Miles and spoke of being a proud Vietnamese-Australian inspired by the journey of his parents to enter local politics.
“We are exactly half way through our four-year term and I think we’re doing OK, but there’s plenty of room for improvement,” he said.
“We’ve almost finished building a new library and community hub in Braybrook and we’ve activated more truck curfews in Footscray and Yarraville.”
Cr Quach spoke of a bright future for the area but the need to tackle issues such as growing youth unemployment, problem gambling, domestic violence and closing the infrastructure gap.
River ward councillor Cameron McDonald was elected unopposed as deputy mayor, firming the likelihood he will be Maribyrnong’s next mayor and the last before the 2016 local government election.
