THE longest-serving councillor in West Devon was this week elected to be the borough?s mayor for the coming year.
Cllr Peter Hill has served the community of Chagford for 45 years ? 30 of them as a borough councillor.
Cllr Ted Sherrell, who proposed Cllr Hill for the role at Tuesday?s annual meeting of the council, said he was the ?most honourable gentleman any of us are likely to meet?.
Cllr Sherrell said: ?Peter has been at the heart of public life in West Devon for so long, he is not so much the father of the council, more the patron saint.
?He has always been a steadfast rock in a vacillating world, a wise, deep-thinking man. A natural leader, people follow Peter because his innate honesty ensures that, quite simply, they trust him, totally and without reservation.?
Cllr John Darch, seconding the proposal, said Cllr Hill?s service to local government was ?exemplary?.
?No-one deserves the honour of being mayor of West Devon more than Peter,? said Cllr Darch.
Cllr Hill, 66, was elected unopposed at this month?s council elections. He was leader of the council?s Independent group for the last eight years and chairman of the authority?s influential policy and resources committee since 1999.
He started his public work in 1958, when at the age of just 22, he was elected as councillor on the old Okehampton Rural
District Council ? one of three representatives for Chagford.
Following local government reorganisation, he was elected to West Devon District Council in 1973 and was its chairman in 1980/81.
Cllr Hill said local government had changed beyond recognition since he was first elected.?Some things for the good and some not so good,? he said.
Being elected as mayor on Tuesday was ?a day of memories?, said Cllr Hill, who also looked forward to the challenges of the future.
?During the coming year we hope to see the Okehampton sports centre and the Abbey Garage site in Tavistock getting under way and to complete these two schemes reflects the corporate priorities we have to abide by,? he said.
Cllr Hill said he would do ?all he could? to encourage partnership working to ?benefit communities in West Devon? ? he also stressed the importance of increased promotion and participation in the council?s recycling initiatives.
Cllr Hill, a baker by trade, was born and bred in Chagford and has been a magistrate for 32 years. His chosen charities for the coming year are Hospiscare and St Luke?s Hospice, which are organisations close to Cllr Hill?s heart ? his wife Gay is a community palliative care sister.
He said: ?I?ve chosen the two hospices because St Luke?s takes patients from the southern area of the borough whilst Hospiscare looks after people with life-threatening illnesses in the northern area of West Devon. I hope to raise as much money for them as possible during my year; they are such worthwhile causes.?
Tributes were paid at Tuesday?s meeting to last year?s mayor, Cllr Richard Phillips ? the youngest West Devon councillor ever to have worn the mayoral chain of office.
Cllr Phillips, who did not stand at the local elections, was praised for his positive approach to council matters, a member who was ?fair and totally open-minded? in his attitude to all ages and sectors of the community.
Cllr Phillips said he had ?thoroughly enjoyed? his four years as a councillor and term of office as mayor.
?I hope I have made a slight difference somewhere in the borough ? if I have, then it?s all been worthwhile,? he said.
Next year?s deputy mayor will be Liberal Democrat Cllr Christine Grills, ward member for Bere Ferrers who served as mayor in 2000/2001.
Independent Cllr Roger Mathew, nominating Cllr Grills, said he could not think of a ?more appropriate? councillor as deputy, who would be a constant source of support to the mayor.
Seconding the proposal, Conservative Cllr Dick Eberlie said: ?We all know her as totally committed, very genial, friendly and knowledgeable, fully experienced in the council?s workings and always with a smile and friendly word for all of us.?