Councillor Rod Fyffe says he woke up “still surprised” this morning after he was elected mayor-elect by his fellow councillors on Wednesday night – despite it being his fourth stint in the city’s highest office. 

Speaking at Town Hall this morning, the teetotalling, caffeine guzzling councillor for Lockwood Ward said he celebrated with a few drinks of the “hot and black” variety last night

“It’s a rare honour and an amazing feeling,” Cr Fyffe said.

The mayor-elect said there were six or seven things he’d like to see done straight away, citing the Kangaroo Flat aquatic centre and airport upgrade as two projects he wanted prioritised.

“[But] first and foremost, we need to deliver on the council plan,” he said, referring to an independent review by consulting firm Aurecon.

That review gave 69 individual recommendations on ways the city could improve its operations within the term of the current council, which expires at the end of Cr Fyffe’s one-year stint as mayor. 

As well as delivering on capital works projects, Cr Fyffe said he would be chasing grants to build more community facilities. 

“You can get some amazing opportunities from the state and federal governments and given that we’ve delivered on many, many projects of significance, and given that we’ve delivered quality projects for them, we'll be in there chasing every dollar that we can,” he said.

“Because it’s community money and the community does need the facilities that we’re after.”

Speaking to the Bendigo Advertiser earlier this week, Cr Fyffe said instilling a culture of innovation to meet the challenges of impending rate caps would also be high on his priorities. 

But Cr Fyffe – who takes over from Mayor Peter Cox on November 10 – said his colleague “thoroughly deserved” a chance to enjoy his last week’s in office. 

“Given that Cr Cox will be the mayor for the next three weeks, I think it’s only fair that he enjoys that time because he has worked very hard for the community, achieved an enormous amount and his leadership of council has been terrific,” Cr Fyffe said.

“So I’m quite prepared to step back, let him enjoy those last few weeks ... [which are] the icing on the cake.” 

All nine councillors were present to cast their votes last night with Cr Fyffe and Councillor Barry Lyons the only two candidates for the mayoral position. The way the votes fell is not made public. 

Cr Fyffe said he would “wait and see” how to handle potential anti-mosque rallies, stressing it would be a decision for all councillors. 

Cr Fyffe has been a councillor in Bendigo since 1983 and served as mayor in 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2010-2011.