I am honoured to have been re-elected as mayor of West Wimmera Shire Council for the next 12 months, and am looking forward to working with my colleagues to continue building on council’s achievements to date.
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Our annual statutory meeting, held last month in Kaniva, included a resolution regarding the start time for ordinary council meetings conducted in Edenhope and Kaniva.
Historically, these meetings have started at 7pm, however council has resolved to change this to 2pm.
At this meeting, we also chose Connewirrecoo, Lawloit and Goroke as the locations for our community forums in 2019.
These forums take place following a council meeting in the same location, and are an important opportunity to interact with our smaller communities.
These forums take place following a council meeting in the same location, and are an important opportunity to interact with our smaller communities.
Last week, Cr Richard Hicks and I travelled to Swan Hill to attend the North West Municipalities Association Conference titled “Securing Our Future”.
It was an excellent opportunity to catch up with our councillor colleagues from neighbouring shires.
Guest speakers included Municipal Association of Victoria president Mary Lalios, Victorian Cross Border commissioner Luke Wilson, Northern Mallee Leaders executive officer Jen Grigg, Dr Andrew Tupper from the Bureau of Meteorology and New South Wales Cross Border commissioner James McTavish.
We also attended a NWMA dinner on the eve of the conference, which included the Heartbeat of the Murray Laser Show.
I would like to thank Cr Hicks for attending a recent separation tree ceremony on council’s behalf in Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens. This is an annual event conducted by the Victoria Day Council, and included the presentation of two separation tree saplings to the shire.
This year’s ceremony marked the 168th anniversary of the announcement of the separation of New South Wales and Victoria in 1868, so that Victoria would become a state in its own right.
We are planning to nurture the young saplings over the warm summer months, planting them in suitable locations in autumn.
This will be my last mayoral column before the Christmas break, so I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe festive season.
Cr Jodie Pretlove is mayor of West Wimmera Shire Council.