Callington mayor and portreeve Mike Tagg has been re-elected for a second year at the helm of the town council.

At Callington Town Council’s Annual Parish Meeting on Tuesday last week, the council unanimously voted to re-elect Cllr Tagg after he was proposed by sitting deputy mayor Cllr Suzan Tolman.

Cllr Tolman herself was then elected for a second year as deputy. She was proposed by Cllr Tagg and voted in a secret ballot by her fellow councillors. Also in the running were Cllr Tony Stentiford, proposed by Cllr Tolman, and Cllr Maria Coakley, proposed by herself. Cllr Steniford was proposed by Cllr Andrew Long as town cryer for another year, a role he duly acccepted.

Before being re-elected, Cllr Tagg gave a round up of his last year as mayor and portreeve and presented thank-you bouquets to the town clerk, assistant town clerk, responsible finance officer and bookings officer as well as deputy portreeve Suzan Tolman and his wife, mayoress Shes Tagg. He also presented vouchers for the Snack Stop in Callington to the works staff at Callington Town Hall.

Cllr Tagg, a retired Royal Marines troop sergent, gave a speech to a hall close to full. He outlined the work of town council over the past year, outlining thrifty drawing on reserves and grants with, as he said in what was the catchphrase of his speech, ‘nothing added to the town council element of the precept’ to do so.

‘This year Callington and Kelly Bray have had a cheerful and a very competent council,’ he said. ‘Don’t just take my for for it, let’s run through some facts and figures, all of which can be proven!’

Not one to stint on praise where it is due, Cllr Tagg thanked councillors and others involved in projects including new public toilets, new lights and a memorial bench for St Mary’s Square, grant money for gazebos and a new town hall mosaic mural. CCTV had also been upgraded to better protect the town centre and efforts made to make the town hall more energy efficient. He also thanked the many sponsors of the upcoming Jubilee celebrations and the hard work of town organisations staging them. With the currently inflationary pressures, the town council had had to increase the precept by 1.96% f but it is still amongst the lowest in the county. ‘The town council is extremely mindful that hte coming year is going to be exceptionally hard on the domestic purse, with increases in energy and fuel, and as such we have worked hard at keeping our council tax rise to an affordable level,’ he said.