COUNCILLORS will make another attempt to select Wrexham’s next Mayor on Wednesday.
Last month a full council meeting descended into chaos with tempers fraying during a slanging match across the Guildhall which involved councillors from across the political spectrum, leading to a decision being postponed.
The choice of a new Mayor would normally be a formality, with preferred candidates for that position and Deputy Mayor having already been chosen behind closed doors by the cross-party Constitutional Working Group.
But just before the last meeting, current Deputy Mayor and preferred candidate for the role Brymbo Cllr Paul Rogers (Con) withdrew his candidacy at the last minute.
Cllr Rogers is currently serving a three-month suspension from the council having been found to have breached the code of conduct by the ombudsman for his involvement in an incident on a bus outside Ysgol Tanyfron two years ago.
Opposition councillors were unhappy about the selection process to choose the successor to current Mayor, Whitegate Clllr Brian Cameron (Lab), which also saw Marford Cllr Beryl Blackmore (Ind) put forward as Deputy Mayor.
Having gone back to the behind-closed-doors working group, Garden Village Cllr Andy Williams (Ind) has now been put forward as the nominated candidate to become Mayor.
If backed, it would be a second stint in the role for Cllr Williams who proved popular when he served as Mayor previously from 2018 to 2019.
A report to councillors ahead of the meeting states: “The main objective is to reach agreement between all members of the council to ensure that the formal decision at the annual meeting of the council is unanimous.
“The dignity of the office of Mayor and of the council generally would be impaired by any public disagreement on such a matter at the council’s annual meeting.”
A vote will be taken at an extraordinary full meeting of Wrexham Council which takes place next Wednesday (April 19).
The chosen candidate will then be elected at the annual meeting of the council in May.
At the same meeting, all 56 councillors will also be voting on whether to adopt the Local Development Plan (LDP).
Required by Welsh Government, the LDP allocates sites where around 8,000 homes could be built in the county borough, having been examined by the government and an independent planning inspectorate before being deemed sound for approval.
