New Mayor of St Albans
Councillor Janet Smith has been elected the new Mayor of the City and District of St Albans – choosing Citizens Advice as her charity for the year.
She was made Mayor for 2019/20 at the Annual Meeting of St Albans City and District Council on Wednesday 22 May. Councillor Sandra Wood was appointed her Deputy.
Cllr Smith’s theme for the year will be “Knowledge and Confidence” – one of the overarching objectives of Citizens Advice.
She said:
Becoming Mayor is a magnificent honour and I am looking forward to serving the community in the year ahead.
I will be representing the Council at civic, ceremonial and local events, supporting the District’s many voluntary and community groups.
Citizens Advice aspires to give people the knowledge and confidence to find their way forward, whoever they are and whatever their problem.
That is a commendable mission and it will be my goal as Mayor to offer what help I can to the District’s most vulnerable people and worthwhile causes.
Cllr Smith, who succeeds Cllr Rosemary Farmer, becomes the City’s 476th Mayor with the first having been appointed in 1553.
She has been a District Councillor for the Sopwell ward from 2003 to 2008 and since 2012 and has sat on a wide range of committees and working groups.
Her interest in Citizens Advice followed her appointment to their Trustees’ meetings as the Council’s representative.
Born and brought up in Lancashire, Cllr Smith moved to the City with her parents when aged 16 and completed her A-Levels at St Albans Girls’ School.
Having qualified as a teacher, she moved to Hong Kong where she lived for 15 years, giving birth to a son and daughter.
She returned to St Albans in 1991 and has lived here since, becoming involved in a wide range of community work.
Among other activities, she has been a volunteer at Mandeville Primary School for more than a decade.
Cllr Smith will be supported in her role as Mayor by her daughter Sonia Smith who will act as consort.
Her Deputy, Cllr Wood, has been a District Councillor for Wheathampstead ward since 2014.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will continue with their ward duties during their one-year term.
For more information on the Mayor, please see: www.stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/decisionmaking/mayorsoffice/.
Contact for the Mayor’s office:
Alison Orde, the Mayor’s Civic Officer
Tel: 01727 819544
Email: mayoralty@stalbans.gov.uk
Contact for the media:
John McJannet,
Principal Communications Officer,
Tel: 01727 296130.
Email: john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.