ALBANY’S mayor is to finally be given the public recognition the position demands after Albany City Council agreed to purchase a ceremonial mayoral chains.
Council agreed on Tuesday night to accept the $23,000 quote supplied by Middlewick Jewellers in Perth to manufacture the chain.
Cr Kim Stanton said formal recognition should have been provided for the mayor following the amalgamation of the Albany Town and Shire.
Mayoral robes were provided but Cr Stanton said it was like a marriage where “the wedding dress had arrived but there was no ring.”
Cr Stanton said since amalgamation, she had often had to point out the mayor at public events for people who did not know what he or she looked like.
“It is important to have our mayor readily identified,” she said.
Cr Daniel Wiseman said the mayor needed something like the chain to be easily recognised, especially when “he was standing behind us taller blokes”.
Cr Wiseman said it was a good concept, and the mayor could wear the regalia of office with pride.
Middlewick Jewellers designed and manufactured mayoral chains for Rockingham, Subiaco, Nedlands, Bayswater, Bassendean, Kwinana, South Perth and other councils.
The Town of Albany had a mayoral chain dating from 1913 and tracing the mayoral history back to 1851.
These are now a significant historical item of Council Regalia.
The City of Albany crest would be incorporated into the chain’s design.