A Message from the Mayor - February 2021
Published on 10 February 2021
What a lovely start to the new year in West Wimmera. I know the farming community is particularly happy with this year’s harvest.
Australia Day was most definitely the shire highlight for January. Congratulations to all the community members and groups nominees who received awards.
I was delighted to see the local campaigner Annie Austin awarded as Citizen of the Year; she does so much for her Kaniva community. The Harrow Balmoral FNC should feel equally proud as recipient of the Event of the Year award raising a staggering $14,000 for Kangaroo Island bushfire recovery; there is no better indication of selflessness in a community than to see it dig deep and respond to another community facing complete devastation. Well done to the crafting powerhouse of Apsley Craft Group and Retired Ladies who received the Community Group of the Year award for the countless gifts they made in isolation during lockdown for “The Samaritan’s Purse” charity.
Finally, I must commend our local volunteers who gave very generously of their time to assist council staff with Australia Day proceedings and coped admirably with the onerous but important CovidSAFE requirements for this event. Australia Day, across a shire as large as ours, would have been very difficult to coordinate without the help of volunteers.
Last week I attended council’s community support team’s first Pop Up Cafe sessions held at the new Edenhope library. The sessions are being held across the shire and are for discussing community health needs and not an information forum for all council activities. It was very worthwhile for both the community members who attended and for council staff to have this kind of information exchange face to face in a casual setting. For residents who do not qualify for NDIS please note we have another program called Home and Community Care Program for Younger People which is targeted at people aged under 65 and Aboriginal people aged under 50 who need assistance with daily activities. Ring 13 99 72 for further information.
As your local government representatives, we need your input to ensure we make decisions that are in the best interest of the community so I thank everyone who has contributed recently to both the draft Community Engagement Policy and the Lake Wallace Strategic Plan discussion paper surveys. We know we cannot rely entirely on surveys for feedback, so we do our very best as councillors to get out into the community and to be involved at a grass roots level too.
Lastly, next week we will have our first council meeting for the year. We welcome all of you in West Wimmera shire to watch the next meeting online on our website. Unfortunately, on this occasion we are not able to open this meeting to the public due to the new Coronavirus directives from the State Government. If you are considering attending a public council meeting in the future, I would suggest you review the council governance rules found on the council web page under Policies.
Bruce Meyer OAM - Mayor, West Wimmera Shire Council