New mayor at your service

By Jim Mynard
TOORADIN has provided its second Casey mayor.
Balla Balla Ward councillor Colin Butler easily won the coveted mayoral position from Four Oaks Ward councillor Rob Wilson in a seventofour vote.
Cr Butler, who won Balla Balla from former mayor Ron Mantel (who has since died), has developed well as a councillor and maintained a middleoftheroad position with the party politicking that is rife in the council.
He said he would maintain this and would adopt a steadyasshegoes policy in his leadership.
“Casey has many large and important projects in hand and I won’t be introducing any more,” he said.
But Cr Butler said he would strongly pursue his desire to see rate reform in the municipality until everyone knew what it was all about.
“I am proud to be the mayor of Casey because it is a great city and great honour.”
He said he was happy to hear from those councillors who said in their congratulatory speeches that he was evenhanded.
“That’s the way it is going to be,” Cr Butler said.
“We have many things in hand and we need to consolidate. We also need more conciliation among councillors, although we have been doing better at that.
“I expect all councillors to act honourably. My family has pledged support so the wheel is turning well and the council should continue to run that way.
“This will be a busy year, but I know what I have to do and I know what the commitment is.”