The councillors met on Monday night to hold an informal vote to elect the mayor for the next term ahead of Thursday’s statutory meeting, where Cr Radford will be officially sworn in for the 2018-19 term. 

The candidates were Crs Radford and David Grimble. 

Related: Horsham Rural City Council’s mayoral race begins 

Current Mayor Pam Clarke did not put her name forward after two years in the role. She told the Wimmera Mail-Times that two years was enough and that she was “happy for someone else to step up and have a go”.   

Cr Radford served as mayor in 2014-15 and was first elected to the council in November 2008. 

Ahead of the informal vote, Cr Radford told the Wimmera Mail-Times that he looked forward to throwing his hat into the ring again. He said he has been nominated for the mayoral position three times before and was mayor once. 

“It was a great privilege the first time round,” he said. 

The statutory meeting on Thursday starts at 7pm in the council chambers. 

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