Loddon Shire Mayoral Column 21 December
Published on 21 December 2020
Activating outdoor hospitality offerings
Council is working with 17 local hospitality businesses to activate outdoor dining and entertainment offerings to help businesses recover from COVID-19.
Council was successful in securing $250,000 (ex GST) in funding for the activation of outdoor dining and entertainment as part of the Victorian Government’s $29.5 million Local Councils Outdoor Eating and Entertainment Package.
It enables Council, in partnership with the State Government, to provide stimulus to the hospitality industry after the tough year that has been 2020.
It was fantastic to be able to launch the first site under the project last Monday 14 December at the Commercial Hotel Boort.
The second and third sites were activated late last week at the Victoria Hotel Pyramid Hill and the Wedderburn Hotel. More sites will be rolled out in early 2021.
As part of this project, a local Loddon contractor was sourced to build the picnic benches and planter boxes, while plants have been sourced locally for the first three sites. Keeping as much of Council’s spending as possible local, other local suppliers are being included in the future rollout of the project.
Know Your Council data released
Know Your Council data collected from councils by the State Government has been released and shows Loddon performing well in 2019/20 across many key service areas.
Data about nine services is collected annually and is an opportunity for the community to access consistent information about the performance of councils across Victoria.
These services include animal management, aquatic facilities, food safety, governance, libraries, maternal and child health, roads, statutory planning and waste collection. There’s also data about sustainable capacity and financial performance.
To find out more and to view the Loddon Shire data go to Know Your Council.
Swimming safety during summer
As we head into the holiday period, many of us will be looking to cool off in one of the many waterways in our Shire. These include rivers, creeks, lakes and dams.
Royal Life Saving, through their Respect the River project is reminding the community enjoying inland waterways to be aware of the risks and stay safe.
Royal Life Saving urges people to never swim alone, avoid drugs and alcohol around water, wear a lifejacket, and check the current by throwing a leaf into the water to see the speed it travels.
Check the depth of the water and look for submerged objects by using a stick and enter water slowly and feet first. Take care of slippery or uneven surfaces around or in the water and actively supervise children around water. If you are caught in a current, float on your back feet first, and go with the current. Don’t panic.
For more safety tips, advice and fact sheets visit the Royal Life Saving website.
Families and community members are encouraged to swim at a supervised location such as one of the five swimming pools in our Shire.
These pools are operating within current COVID-19 guidelines, meaning there are certain restrictions and requirements in place. These include providing your contact details, time limits during high attendance and limits of number of people in pools at one time.
To find out more, including opening hours and entrance fees, visit Council's website.
Christmas and New Year office and service hours
I would just like to remind our community of changes in Council office hours and services during the Christmas and New Year period.
The Council office in Wedderburn will be closed from 4.45pm on Wednesday 23 December and reopen at 8.15am on Monday 4 January 2021.
The Loddon Visitor Information Centre will be closed from 5pm on Wednesday 23 December and reopen at 9am on Monday 4 January 2021. For enquiries phone (03) 5494 1257 or email loddonvisitorinformation@loddon.vic.gov.au
The Community Care service will provide limited services from Thursday 24 December and will recommence at 8.30am on Monday 4 January 2021. Personal care and meals on wheels will be provided and clients will be contacted to discuss their service needs for this period.
There will be no home care, respite care, social support or property maintenance services delivered during this period.
For urgent Community Care service assistance during this period, please contact the after-hours service on 0427 804 736.
There will be changes to scheduled kerbside garbage and recycling collections during December 2020 and January 2021.
Kerbside collections scheduled for Christmas Day (Friday 25 December) will instead take place on Sunday 27 December 2020. Collections for New Year’s Day (Friday 1 January 2020) will take place on Sunday 3 January 2021.
All waste facilities across the Shire will be closed on public holidays.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Finally as this is the last column for 2020, I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish our community a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy New Year.
As we wave goodbye to what has been a challenging year, I look forward to working with Councillors, Council staff and our community in 2021.