A NEW Petersfield mayor was appointed on Monday as town councillors held their first meeting since parish and district elections earlier this month. Paul Molloy has taken over the reins from Bob Ayer, with Vaughan Clarke installed as his deputy. In his opening speech, Mr Molloy praised his predecessors and called for councillors to operate "free of all political dogma" over the next year. He told the meeting: "I thank fellow councillors for bestowing upon me the huge honour of representing Petersfield as the town mayor for this coming civic year. "This town council is formed and takes its shape through the political system, and we have just fought, quite rightly and quite correctly, a clean election along political lines. "But now the election is over, it is important that this council comes back together again as a team. "Of one thing I am absolutely certain, everyone sitting around this table, no matter their political persuasions, are all joined by a common denominator – we all want to do our best for the town, and we all want this town to prosper in every way possible." In other council business, new town councillors Philip Aiston (Bell Hill) and Clive Shore (St Peter's) were welcomed in to the fold. Mr Molloy told them: "You join up with two experienced councillors (Chris Jenner and Hilary Ayer), and I'm sure you will yourselves bring fresh ideas and views to our debate."
