Mayoral Column 29 January 2018

Published on 29 January 2018

Australia Day congratulations

A big thank you to all our community groups and volunteers for hosting Australia Day celebration events across the Shire last Friday.

It was a great honour as Mayor to conduct my first citizenship ceremony in Pyramid Hill to coincide with Australia Day celebrations. It was also a significant day for the family involved in the ceremony as they officially became Australian citizens on our national day.

I would also like to congratulate our Australia Day award recipients, including Loddon Shire’s Citizen of the Year Alice Leech from Inglewood.

Alice, who is a retired school teacher, dedicates her time to volunteering extensively within the community. This includes with Inglewood Community Neighbourhood House, Inglewood Ambulance Auxiliary Opportunity Shop, Inglewood hostel, Inglewood Pool Committee (Alice has organised the Australia Day Swimming Carnival since the event began), St Marys Primary School and so much more.

Alice is certainly a very worthy recipient of the Citizen of the Year, and this award is an opportunity to recognise how much Alice has given back to the community over the years.

Additionally, I’d like to recognise and congratulate all the award recipients within the other categories including joint Young Citizen of the Year recipients Maddison Welsh from Calivil and Wedderburn’s Jordan Hargreaves.

Other award recipients were: Boort Amity Inc. (Community Group of the Year), Wedderburn Golf Club’s Victorian Sand Greens Championships (Community Event of the Year), Lynette Clark (Boort Community Service Award), Enzo Scafati (Inglewood Community Service Award), Dorothy Silke (Tarnagulla Community Service Award), Shirley Hope (Terrick Community Service Award) and Alex Holt (Wedderburn Community Service Award).

Finally, I’d like to congratulate all of our 2018 Loddon Shire Australia Day competition winners for colouring, literature and photography.

Please join with me in acknowledging and congratulating this year’s winners.

Find out when road grading is due in your area

Council has updated its planned grading program on its website, including a searchable map, so you can see planned maintenance grading and inspections.

You can search for a road name or zoom into the map to view individual road segments. Clicking on an icon on the map will enable you to see when one of the grading teams is due in the area next.

The map is live and linked to Council’s software program Reflect, which is used for planned grading, meaning it will automatically update as grading crews move through the area, once a road segment is inspected/graded.

Find out more at www.loddon.vic.gov.au/Live/Foothpaths-roads-and-drains/Road-grading-program/Road-grading-works

Customer Service Strategy out for comment

Council is seeking your comments regarding its draft Customer Service Strategy 2018-2022.

The draft Customer Service Strategy outlines Council’s approach to delivery of its customer service across the Shire and addresses a number of directions. Among these directions is providing accessible and flexible customer service, communicating and engaging effectively with our community and allocating customer service resources to areas of most need.

The draft strategy was developed in consultation with the community and Council staff, including a survey (which received more than 120 responses), community workshops and discussions in person, including at a number of community events.

Thank you to all our community members who provided their valuable feedback to the draft strategy. Please take the time to review the draft Customer Service Strategy and provide your thoughts about the document. Feedback closes on Sunday 25 February.

I’d also like to remind residents that feedback to Council’s draft Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2017-2021 will close this Sunday 4 February.

The updated plan reflects Council’s commitment in continuing to reduce barriers experienced by people with a disability. This includes people living with a disability, as well as improved access for all community members such as the elderly, parents with prams, young children and people who use English as a second language.

You can view both draft documents at www.loddon.vic.gov.au. Click on “Our documents” at the top of the page and then go to “Documents for public comment”.