By Parker McKenzie
Cr Marcia Timmers-Leitch has been elected mayor of Knox City Council for the 2022/23 term, with Cr Jude Dwight serving as Deputy Mayor.
Mayor Timmers-Leitch said Knox has become more multicultural since she was first elected to council in the March 2019 by-election for Collier Ward.
“When I was first elected, about 25 per cent of our residents had been born overseas. The latest census data tells us that about 33 per cent have now been born overseas,” she said.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in multiculturalism, which I just love.”
It is her first term as mayor, taking over the role from Cr Susan Laukens.
Mayor Timmers-Leitch said a significant challenge for the council has been cost shifting from the state and federal governments.
“We are very challenged by the cost structure and how we are allowed to collect money, we’re operating within a 1.75 per cent rate cap,” she said.
“Delivering for our community, especially when it comes to capital works programming that has so many pressures on it in terms of cost, is going to be a big challenge.”
The Knox City LGA covers the suburbs of Upper Ferntree Gully, Ferntree Gully, Lyersfield, Rowville, Wantirna, Wantirna South, Bayswater, Boronia and The Basin. Collier Ward is centred on Wantirna.
Mayor Timmers-Leitch said the response from local candidates in the state election towards council advocacy goals has been pleasing.
“We’ve spent a lot of time meeting with our local members of parliament, both at the state and federal level, as well as the candidates to discuss those issues that are important to our community,” she said.
“The rebuilding of Boronia Train Station has just been a fantastic funding commitment by one of the parties. We’ve got the public hospital for the Wantirna Health Precinct and of course, there’s the extension of the route 75 tram in Knox, which has been on advocacy for a significant amount of time.”
Two Knox City councillors will be on the ballot in the November 26 state election, with Sorina Grasso running as the Labor candidate for Croydon and Nicole Seymour as an independent in Rowville.
Mayor Timmers-Leitch said she is looking forward to working with her fellow councillors “as a great team.”
“We had a lot of change over the 2020 election with brand councillors coming in, we’ve settled into this third year and I think everyone’s found their feet really well,” she said.
“I’ve lived in Knox for the last 15 years, and my husband and I are raising our three school-aged children here. We love being connected to our local schools and our local sporting clubs,
“We’d just like to see the community thrive and continue to grow, especially building on better community connections. After Covid a lot of people are hurting out there, so we are just looking at ways that we can continue to build a strong community for ourselves.”
Deputy Mayor Dwight was first elected to represent Chandler Ward during the 2020 council elections. Chandler Ward covers The Basin and part of Sassafras.
