HOBSONS Bay councillor Luba Grigorovitch will stand down from her position as electorate officer for Altona MP Lynne Kosky in favor of representing local residents.

The Altona Meadows Ward councillor revealed to Star she will give up her full-time job – believed to be worth more than $50,000 – in favor of fulfilling her municipal duties.

Last month, a scathing report into the Brimbank Council by the Victorian Ombudsman recommended the State Government pass legislation to stop federal or state electorate officers from being elected as councillors.

At the time, Cr Grigorovitch – who has been Ms Kosky’s electorate officer for five years - was uncertain which role she would abandon.

Initially Cr Grigorovitch said she would make the decision when and if the legislation was passed, however last week she told Star she would definitely choose her councillor role.

“I was voted in for four years and I don’t want to let the community down by resigning,” she said. “I definitely want to stay on as a councillor.”

The decision means Cr Grigorovitch will lose her main income and have to settle for the $20,200 councillor allowance. “I feel like I have achieved so much already and there are things that I’ve started and would like to see come to fruition,” she said.

Cr Grigorovitch said she didn’t want the ward to have to go through a costly by-election.

“People wanted me on council for four years and that’s what I will do,” she said. “I would miss the people I work with at Lynne’s office and of course I feel loyalty to Lynne, but she understands my position.”

Cr Grigorovitch described her time on council as a different world.

“I’m just taking one day at a time,” she said. “Before I started I had an idea of what it would be like to be on council, but it has been completely different. I am enjoying it though.”

The Ombudsman’s recommendation was to remove any conflict of interest that could arise if a councillor was employed as a federal or state minister’s electorate officer.

Cr Grigorovitch told Star in May that she took an oath to undertake the duties of councillor in the best interests of the people of Hobsons Bay and to faithfully carry out those responsibilities to the best of her skill and judgment, and that she took this oath seriously.

Last week she reinforced that taking the oath was serious to her and she would stand by it.

“I don’t want to let the people in my ward down,” she said.