Stephen Bali likely to retain job as Blacktown Mayor

INCUMBENT Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali is expected to be re-elected to the top job at a mayoral election next Wednesday.

Stephen Bali was re-elected as a councillor and hopes to represent Blacktown as its mayor again.

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INCUMBENT Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali is expected to be re-elected to the top job at a mayoral election next Wednesday.

The Labor caucus will meet the day before the vote to nominate candidates for the mayor, deputy mayor and chairpersons for the committees.

The Liberal Party will also nominate candidates.

A vote will then be taken at the next full meeting of council where the leadership positions will be chosen.

Cr Bali is almost certain to win the vote because Labor holds a majority in the chamber, and no other Labor councillors have publicly put forward their name.

Labor Cr Tony Bleasdale hoped his colleagues would endorse Cr Bali.

“He’s an amazing individual in terms of his vision and drive,” Cr Bleasdale said.

“We would be blessed to have a man of his calibre.”

He said he could not speculate on who the Labor deputy mayoral candidate would be.

“We really don’t know until we have the caucus meeting,” he said.

Liberal councillor Jess Diaz said the party would put forward a mayoral candidate, more for the sake of formality and respecting the process rather than expecting to win.

“The result is a given because we don’t have the numbers in the chamber,” Cr Diaz said.

The mayoral election will be held at a council meeting scheduled for September 28 at 6.30pm in the council chambers. This is a public meeting.