Bendigo Mayor Peter Cox has announced he will stand down as Mayor in November.
The Councillor said the decision was based on tradition. Since the beginnings of the Sandhurst Municipal Council in 1856 Bendigo has had a new Mayor every twelve months.
Cox said the Mayoral role had changed hands every year and that there was no reason for him to break the tradition.
“There is a system in place where Mayors are elected for twelve months, and at the end of those twelve months a different councillor is given the opportunity to carry out the role,” He said.
Councillor Cox’s tenure as Mayor has been dominated by the great Mosque debate in recent times. This has included two rallies in Bendigo and an attempted Code of Conduct Panel by a fellow Councillor.
However Cox believes that any other Councillor would have faced similar hardships had they served the same role in the last twelve months.
“Unfortunately a lot of the attention has been focused on myself, and council could probably do without this attention at this point in time.”
The next council meeting, set for November 4, will be Cox’s last as Mayor. Councillors must now discuss the role before announcing a new Mayor on November 10.