Councillor Jarrod Marsden became Cobar’s newest mayor after being voted in unchallenged at Cobar Shire Council’s Ordinary Meeting last Thursday.
Cr Marsden takes over the role from outgoing mayor Peter Abbott, who did not choose to re-stand.
No other nominations were received for the mayor’s position and so Cr Marsden was appointed to the role.
There were originally three nominations for the deputy mayor’s position with Cr Michael Prince, Cr Julie Payne and Cr Lillian Simpson declaring an interest.
Cr Simpson was however a late withdrawal before the vote leaving only Cr Prince and Cr Payne to contest the election.
Cr Prince won the vote count.
Cr Marsden was full of praise for outgoing mayor Cr Abbott saying he had “filled what many would consider impossible shoes to fill after we lost Lilliane Brady” and has done “a more than admirable job” serving as mayor.
Cr Marsden also praised his team of councillors and said he was excited about the future.
“We’ve got a really good group of councillors. I’ve enjoyed working with everyone so far and I look forward to working with everyone into the future,” he said.
Cr Marsden and Cr Prince will serve in their respective roles of mayor and deputy mayor for the next 12 months.
At age 47, Cr Marsden is one of our youngest elected mayors in recent times.
He is however not the youngest elected with Pierce Goold just 44 when he was elected as mayor in 1893; Michael Doumani was 43 when he became mayor in 1987 and before him, Bruce Mitchell (who is possibly the youngest mayor) was only 37 when he took on the role in 1977.
