Final-week realisation slowly sinking in for Dennis Wellington after more than two decades serving Albany

After a long goodbye to the community following the announcement of his retirement in March, Dennis Wellington’s time as Albany mayor and as an elected member comes to an end this week. Mr Wellington has been mayor since 2011 after being first elected as a councillor a decade earlier in 2001, meaning Saturday’s election will draw to a close a 22-year tenure as a City of Albany elected member. He said after a whole lot of goodbyes there was only one left on Thursday when he will say goodbye to the City’s works team. “It’s been good to get around to everyone before Saturday just to say goodbye as it’s been a long time working with a lot of them,” he said. Mr Wellington said it was yet to sink in that it was his final week because he had a number of busy days to kick it off. “I’ve got a day off Wednesday so it will probably sink in a bit more then,” he said. “Leading into Saturday I’ve got to give the car back and do a few more things like that so it will keep sinking in.” He said he planned to largely stay away from Saturday night’s count but would be on hand to congratulate the next mayor once he knew the final result. “I’ll shake their hand and we’ll go and have a few drinks after that,” he said. Mr Wellington said he believed the mayoral race would be decided at the weekend, but the council election may be “an ongoing saga” that would not be decided until Monday. “I don’t think we’ll have a decision on the council by then so I will still have a bit of interest around the place in that regard,” he said. In early December, Mr Wellington will be packing his car ready to drive across the Nullarbor for the first time. “We’re going to drive to Sydney to see a grandson I haven’t met yet because he was born in June,” he said. “We’ll drive over there and Fran’s family is from Geelong so we’ll go down and see them as well, I’m really looking forward to the trip.” Looking ahead Mr Wellington said he hoped the council would allow him to stay on the committee working towards the 2026 Bicentennial. “I think that is going to be something that is going to be a major event, but that’s up to the council,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to be done between now and the time the bicentennial gets here.”