Mayor elect of Bridgnorth chosen in drama over casting vote

In the absence of three members, including current mayor Councillor Ron Whittle, current deputy mayor Councillor Kirstie Hurst-Knight who was chairing the meeting was forced to use her casting vote to elect herself as the next town mayor.

She was up against Councillor Richard Fox, representing Morfe ward, for the civic role for the year 2020-21.

Both were asked on the spot to explain their plans for the forthcoming year after Councillor Karen Sawbridge, also representing Morfe, told members they she did not know enough about the two nominees to make an informed decision.

Following a vote of five for and five against, and two abstentions, Councillor Hurst-Knight, representing East ward, then voted for herself which is allowed under the rules.

Defer

However, she refused to use her casting vote to choose the deputy mayor-elect when the vote for that role was also split between Councillor Fox and Councillor Sarah Barlow, of Castle ward, again with two abstentions.

Councillor Hurst-Knight told the meeting: "I'm refusing to use my casting vote at this point. The reason is that when I was selected to be the deputy mayor all the people who voted for me then are here tonight. When I voted for myself with my casting vote earlier I was confident that those people want me to be mayor.

"I didn't think it was fair to do the same for the deputy mayor elect appointment."

The members then voted to defer their decision over who the next deputy will be until next month's meeting, when all the councillors are due to attend.

The eventual town and deputy mayors will be officially appointed at the council's AGM on May 16.

Town clerk Lee Jakeman told the members that the mayoral vote was removed from its traditional place on January's agenda to allow them to prioritise budget discussions instead.