ALBURY mayor Kevin Mack would prefer Wodonga's new mayor to be a current councillor, rather than a novice.
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Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie is retiring at this month's election, after topping the poll at the 2016 election and spending the last four years leading the city.
For all that time, Cr Mack has been mayor of Albury and was last week elected to a further 12 months in the job following the 12-month postponement of NSW council elections.
"It would be good to have someone stand up over there that gets re-elected, that is on council, and we can actually be part of that journey, but it's not absolute," Cr Mack said when asked if Wodonga's new mayor needed to be an incumbent.
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However, he believed the Twin Cities would have been worse off with two new leaders amid COVID and Regional Deal responses.
"I can't stress this enough if we lost both Anna and myself for different reasons then we'd be starting afresh again and we just can't afford to have that scenario," Cr Mack said.
Colleague Danny Lowe has also said he will not be nominating for mayor if re-elected, while current deputy mayor Brian Mitchell and former mayor John Watson would not rule out a tilt at the position.
The remaining councillors Ron Mildren and Libby Hall were non-committal about running for mayor, saying they were focussed on being re-elected.
Cr Mildren suggested "blocs" would emerge on the new council and that would determine who secured the job.
"But at the end of the day the bureaucracy controls everything and it's not going to make any difference (who is mayor)," Cr Mildren said.
Cr Hall suggested the leadership role was not beyond first-time councillors.
"People learn quickly on the job and basically most of those candidates could fit into that position," Cr Hall said.
He has the benefit of the donkey vote with first-time contenders, Danny Lowe (2016) and Chris Ferguson (2008), elected after being atop the ballot paper.
The place was occupied by ousted councillor Ed Foulston in 2012.
