These two councils are the only ones in western Sydney that have popularly elected mayors, with the Hills set to follow at the 2016 election.
Popularly-elected four year mayors are full-time so are able to concentrate on their civic duties.
In Liverpool, the mayor is the suave, US-born Lebanese-background Ned Mannoun while Fairfield has Labor’s Frank Carbone.
Political pundits, and some councillors themselves, point to egos as the main reason that most councillors have not pushed for popularly elected mayors.
Many councils, with Parramatta a prime example, have their “deals”” worked out as soon as councillors are elected for their four year term.
In Parramatta for example, anyone who pays attention knows who will be Lord Mayor and deputy lord mayor for each of the four years of the council term, with the backroom deals a long-standing tradition.
The last two years, Liberal John Chedid managed to secure a longer term, with fellow Liberal Scott Lloyd now taking over the reins for the next year.
To have a popularly-elected mayor, councils have to conduct a referendum at the council election, with the first mayoral election four years later.
One of the criticisms of the popular mayoral election is that it favours the major political parties because of the campaign costs involved.
But Clr Mannoun said that for major cities such as Liverpool and Parramatta, the one-year “deal” term was archaic.
“What can a mayor achieve in one year?” he said. “The mayor needs to work with the general manager and stakeholders who do not want to be having to deal with a new mayor every year.
“With deals between councillors, the people do not always get the mayor they want.
“Popularly-elected mayors have the mandate to deliver their vision for their city and can see it through. Our major project is our new city program, a total redesign of the city centre.”
Clr Mannoun urged Parramatta Council to go down the popular mayor election track so projects could have a smoother run.
Parramatta’s longest serving councillor Paul Garrard has somewhat reluctantly conceded that his council needed to look at the option, while admitting that the system favoured the major parties.
As an independent, Clr Garrard will launch his new political party at the next election, giving him more support on council.
With his 40 years’ experience, with sometime in the lord mayoral chair, Clr Garrard would be one independent well-known enough to have a chance as a popularly-elected mayor, as would Clr Lorraine Wearne, who also has been in the lord mayoral chair and has a high public profile.
