It would be a shift from the current system where councillors decide the mayor for a one-year term, with the issue coming under the spotlight as mayoral elections loom later this month. 

It’s a time of year usually plagued with infighting and destabilisation as votes firm behind a candidate.

There is a possibility votes in the current council could be deadlocked at 5-5. In that case, the next mayor of Wagga would be drawn out of a hat.

Cr Pascoe – who is counting numbers for a second tilt at mayor – believes the community knows best.

“There are things for and against, but from what I can see, the community has their say and the community is pretty astute,” he said. 

“They elect the person who they think can do the job the best.”

Griffith elects its mayor for a four-year term at the ballot box, but the system was embroiled in controversy when former mayor Mike Neville was subject to a string of sexual assault charges.

The city was lumped with a recalcitrant mayor who refused to step down from his four-year term.

“The community doesn’t always know best,” said Lance Perry, of Griffith’s ratepayers’ association.

“There’s no law that says when they are arrested, they should stand down … it’s up to the person’s conscience to do the right thing. Mike (Neville) didn’t stand down and the reputation of the town came down.”

But Cr Pascoe disagrees and said there were assurances in place.

“The local government minister has the right to come in and say ‘you can’t do that or otherwise’,” he said.

“There’s better governance in all of this situation. Twelve months is too short a period of time – you’re no sooner into it than you are out of it.”

Council has lodged a submission to have the length of a mayoral term extended to two years.

A spokeswoman for local government minister Paul Toole said consideration would be given to term extensions, but denied there was a plan to force popularly elected mayors upon larger councils. On Thursday, political pundit David Fletcher said a popularly mayor would end political infighting and “dodgy deals”.

But Cr Julian McLaren said it was unrealistic to “take politics out of politics”.