Mayoral Matters May 2021

Published on 17 May 2021

I usually struggle to find interesting or exciting articles to put in this column, well not this month.

Council awarded the contract to demolish the one-hundred-year-old Albacutya Bridge and build a new two-lane version in its place. With up to 600 B Doubles a day coming from the gypsum pits and large farm machinery constantly having to transverse through the outlet creek, the upgrade can't come fast enough. Thank you to both the State and Federal Government, our CEO and Staff for this very important achievement.

The Albacutya silo is being painted by Kitt Bennett at the moment also, a great addition to the extremely popular Silo Art Trail. Council have also received $2.1 million from the Local Roads and Infrastructure Program which is to fund silo art works at either Dimboola or Arkona and what is known as Llew Shilling's silo in Rainbow.

Unfortunately we are not always successful with our funding applications and this is the case with our planned Davis Park (Nhill) redevelopment. This is extremely disappointing news for Nhill and District Sporting Club, Council and the Nhill community, However, we have begun discussing other options and ideas and we believe that a scaled down and/or revised version of the plans may still be able to be achieved.

Our Draft 2021-2022 Budget is out for comment at the moment for anyone that wishes to look. I believe our current position is the best it has been since Jeff Kennett amalgamated the Shires of Lowan and Dimboola twenty-six years ago. Drop in sessions for any queries will be held in Rainbow, Nhill, Jeparit and Dimboola in the coming weeks. 

Our road works program is at full capacity with work in progress in many locations across the shire. Exciting new development is due to begin around the caravan park/river precinct at Jeparit, part of the Wimmera River Discovery Trail.

Enjoy your Day.

Cr Ron Ismay

Mayor