A YEAR after being elected to Lake Macquarie council, Lake Mac Independent councillor Luke Cubis is deputy mayor.
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Cr Cubis was confirmed on Monday night as the position’s sole nominee, and succeeds independent Wendy Harrison.
One of three first-time Lake Mac Independent councillors elected to the council in 2016, Cr Cubis is a former primary school teacher who has ventured into tech start-ups.
He also ran as a Christian Democratic Party candidate for the seat of Swansea at the 2015 state election.
Mayor Kay Fraser thanked Cr Harrison on Monday for her “great support” in the role.
But there was a slightly terse exchange when Cr Harrison asked Cr Fraser whether she would “encourage and support sharing deputy mayor” between the parties and political factions on council in future.
“It’s not for me to determine how people are going to vote, and I think it’s inappropriate for you to bring it up at this time,” Cr Fraser said.
Liberal councillors Jason Pauling and Kevin Baker then sought confirmation from the council’s chief executive Morven Cameron that it wouldn’t contravene the Local Government act to “caucus” the deputy mayoral role.
Cr Cubis’s ascension to technically the second most senior job on the elected council follows a first year of the current term in which the new councillors have been spoken of privately as “green” and inexperienced in meeting procedure.
