Chasing top job
New borough mayor
QUEENSCLIFF council will elect a new mayor tonight, with one councillor already revealing he would put his name forward for the top job.
Cr Ross Ebbels told the Geelong Advertiser yesterday he would nominate for the mayoral role at the council meeting.
If elected, he would take over from Bob Merriman, who has led the council for the past year and was also mayor from 2008-2012.
Cr Ebbels said he would “certainly” put his hat in the ring.
“Being my first term, it takes about two to three years to find your feet as a councillor and contribute to the community at a high level,” he said.
“I feel that I am at that point now.”
Cr Ebbels said he came to Queenscliff as a catering apprentice 35 years ago and had raised his family in the borough.
He was first elected to the council in 2016 and holds the local economy portfolio.
The long-time resident owns Athelstane House.
He has also served as inaugural chair and board member of Queenscliff Music Festival, and represented the Bellarine Peninsula for 14 years on the Geelong Otway Tourism Board, including six years as chair.
The borough will also get a new councillor on Monday after the resignation of Tony Francis at last month’s meeting.
Mr Francis became ineligible to be a councillor in the borough upon the sale of his business Harry’s Kiosk.
A countback to fill the extraordinary vacancy will take place at 11.30am on Monday at the Queenscliff Town Hall. The vacancy will be filled by a countback of the vacating councillor’s votes from the 2016 Borough of Queenscliffe election.
The candidate who gains more than 50 per cent of the countback votes will be elected.