Mayor eyes second term to finish job he started

Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington believes there is still "a lot of work to be done" and hopes to be elected for a second term.

Ahead of nominations for local government elections opening on September 3, Mr Wellington, who was first elected in 2011, said he believed the Albany City Council had transformed in the past four years since he was elected and said he wanted to continue serving the community.

"I don't think we've finished the work that we want to do," he said.

"Albany has come a long way in the past four years … but there are still things we need to do to improve the place."

Mr Wellington said key areas for improvement included Middleton Beach, the growth of Albany as a university city, and tourism development, including moving the Albany Visitor Centre to York Street.

"There are a lot of things we can do to improve Albany without changing its nature," he said.

The former businessman said he believed the community was content with how council has been operating.

"Everyone has been pretty pleased with what we've done in the past," he said. "Obviously you can never please everybody, but hopefully the development of the City in the past four years has been pretty good."

However, Mr Wellington said so-far failed negations with the Albany Agricultural Society, which continues to be a hot topic, "could well" create a divide among voters.

"We've always said we want the Agricultural Society and the Agricultural Show to continue at Centennial Oval, but at the same time we want to do that development for the betterment of the community," he said.

"That $27 million is going to benefit so many people … not just one group, so I think everyone has to participate in it and that's what we want to see."

Wards eligible for nomination include Breaksea, Frederickstown, Kalgan, Vancouver, West, Yakamia as well as the mayor post.