The 31 year old Greens leader on Campbelltown City Council, Councillor Jayden Rivera, has been elected deputy mayor for a one year term.
His election came at an extraordinary council meeting held last night. He was the only candidate.
Cr Rivera, who was first elected to Council in 2024, was nominated for the post by fellow Greens councillor Tao Triebels, Mayor Darcy Lound, and Councillor Masud Khalil.
Speaking after he was confirmed as deputy mayor by the council CEO Lindy Deitz, who was returning officer for the election, Cr Rivera thanked the three councillors who nominated him.
“This is an honour and privilege to represent our community and wildlife in Campbelltown,’’ he said.
“I look forward to working with the Mayor, my fellow councillors, and all the staff, as well as the community to achieve great things for our great community.
“Thank you to Councillor Karen Hunt – Campbelltown City Council for a great first term as deputy mayor; I hope to continue to work with the community just as well as you did.
“I look forward to getting out, listening to the community and approaching this role with a very open, honest and understanding approach and look forward to hearing from everyone and working towards great things for Campbelltown.’’
Mayor Lound congratulated his new deputy on his election to the post.
“The upcoming year promises to be another exciting period for our city and it’s great to work alongside Cr Jayden Rivera as deputy mayor, and the council to deliver positive and community-focused outcomes,” he said.
“I’d like to recognise Cr Karen Hunt for her hard work over the last 12 month during her term as deputy mayor and thank her for the dedication, time and effort she has put into the role,” Cr Lound said.
What a joke, what exactly does the new Deputy Mayor bring to the “table” by way of credentials, business acumen, wisdom, life experience etc?
I look forward to see what actually He does by way of community engagement. The appointment smacks of tokenism.
Don’t worry – it’s a “non job” that Councillors use as a bargaining chip in the negotiations to get someone elected as Mayor.
In the event that the Mayor is ever absent for a Council meeting the deputy could take the chair.
However one of the most important jobs of being Mayor is to make sure that never happens