Our council has had to close the Davis Park grandstand in Nhill due to safety issues with its structural integrity.

This is very unfortunate and far from popular, but we hope to work with the sporting clubs that use that area to come up with a solution, whatever that may be.

I attended a rural summit hosted by Rural Councils Victoria last month in Lakes Entrance. 

It was an awful long way to drive but well worth the effort.

There were a great range of keynote speakers including Darren Chester member for Gippsland, James Flintoff, Chief Executive of Regional Development Victoria, Paul Matthews, head of Regional Tourism and Strategy Visit Victoria, and Michael Bailey CEO of Northern Grampians Shire.

I also attended the regional partnerships meeting in Stawell last week, which has been a great initiative of the Labor government and a great opportunity to workshop with a whole host of people from other shires and government department officers.

Our council has some great events coming up in the next few months such as the Pioneer Museum rally at Jeparit on the long weekend in June, the human-powered vehicle competition at Dimboola in early August and the Rainbow Desert Enduro, which is the final round of the national off-road championship also in August.

Recent rains, while varying in the volumes, have been welcomed by the farming community and hopefully will continue in the growing season ahead. 

There are predictions of a dry winter but I reckon I could get a job with the weather bureau.

I think they are all guessing and you only have to look back at the 200mm forecast at harvest time last year – that didn't happen.

Most of the farmers in my area have completed cropping and hopefully by the time I write the next editorial will have had substantial follow-up rains.

- Hindmarsh Shire Council mayor Ron Ismay

The Mayoral Matters column appears in the Wednesday edition of The Wimmera Mail-Times.

The column is an joint initiative between The Wimmera mail-Times and the region’s five councils.