Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie leaves the job with pride, and a few tears

She finished the final of her more than 200 meetings in the job on Monday evening with a message to say thanks and explain what the job had meant to her.

"Thank you to all of the community for the great honour of bestowing me the privilege of being your councillor," she said.

Speaking to The Border Mail on Monday before the meeting, Cr Speedie said she was sad her time was coming to an end, but with a sense of pride about what she had achieved.

She said she had "naively" put her hand up for council in 2005, not knowing what it entailed or that it would last this long.

Back then, when she asked Wodonga children about their favourite places to go, the answers were all in Albury. Now after years of development, Cr Speedie said she can see residents have a connection to the city they never did before.

"I can look back and see the city is significantly different to when I first started in a very positive way,".

"I look around the city today and it looks spectacular."

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She said she was most proud of the work with Albury Council on the "two cities, one community" initiative and winning a federal government commitment for an Albury-Wodonga regional deal.

The mayor's retirement comes during a push for more women to nominate for council elections.

Cr Speedie said back in 2005 she was a new councillor with a 2-year-old daughter and was able to bring the child to meetings, which was an important allowance.

"We need to be accommodating to that, we need to make sure that there are options available for women if we need to assist with those things ... What we have to do is set up the framework that enables women and encourages women to put their hands up," she said.

"Have there been added challenges? Yes there has, but I try not to focus on those because I don't need an excuse, it just means I try harder."

Monday was the final meeting of the current council before elections, which Cr Speedie has chosen to not contest, and ended with warm compliments towards the outgoing mayor.

Cr Danny Lowe thanked her for her support, mentorship and service to the community.

"You've been the best leader that this town could ask for, especially over the past few months," he said.

Cr Speedie also specifically thanked the councillors she said had been colleagues and friends over her years - Rod Wangman, Lisa Mahood, John Mahony, John Watson, Kat Bennett, John de Kruiff, Danny Lowe, Jenny Hanuksa, Mark Byatt and Eric Kerr.

She acknowledged the specific partnership with Albury mayor Kevin Mack and the time they spent together in the halls of Parliament.

"They did actually ask if we were related because we fight like brother and sister, but it has has been a fantastic working relationship and our cities are all the better for it," she said.

But in chairing the monthly meetings over the past five years, Cr Speedie has seen a lot of disagreements.

She told The Border Mail that dealing with the different characters was "part of democracy".

"With councillors, it's whoever turns up and whoever is voted in, so you have to learn to work with everyone - some you work with better than others," she said.

"I think the biggest thing that a councillor can bring to the table is the right attitude."

"If they're only coming in a negative way, that doesn't offer your community anything."

Cr Speedie had some advice for Wodonga's next mayor.

"You have to be strong, you have to be prepared to do the work. It's been a very big job and sometimes my poor family has had to go without me for nights and nights on end. You need to have the passion, the want to keep making us stronger, better, more vibrant," she said.

"I think our city deserves to have a leadership that is about vision and it's about believing and backing the city."