When I wrote my last Mayor’s column, I believed that it was my last column as your Mayor, but at our statutory Council meeting last week, my Councillor colleagues voted for me to have another 12 month term in the Mayor’s position.
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I am very proud and honoured to have been re-elected for the 2016 year. Thank you to all concerned, and I hope we can continue the work that we started three years ago.
We can now start again in earnest to endeavour to make the Northern Grampians Shire an even better place to live, work and visit.
One of our major focuses going forward will be a better distribution of the Federal and State Government taxation dollar distributions.
Remember the 3, 16, 81 argument that we have put out there? Well now we need to start a concerted campaign to have it changed to give us a fair crack at the taxation dollar. Remember - it's your money.
On a more positive note, the last month has been a very progressive time.
As we are going through another drought cycle, we have had several meetings with our State and Federal Ministers, bringing to their attention the desperate situation we are facing with the lack of water, especially our agricultural people.
As a result, both the state and federal governments have put in place some financial and on-the-ground help. It is a good result but we believe it can be taken a bit further yet, and that will be our ongoing task. Council’s current effort is to make sure most of our water bores are up and running ASAP.
The Halls Gap Mini Expo was held last week at the Halls Gap Hub. Residents and business owners attended to get updates on a number of local projects including the Grampians Peaks Trail, Halls Gap Hub and Visitor Information Centre, Halls Gap Master Plan, and planning scheme amendments.
Things are certainly happening in the Grampians, so I would encourage everyone to get behind your organisations and let's see where this journey may take us
The Grampians Pyrenees Business Awards will be announced on 2 December and we’d like to congratulate the following Northern Grampians businesses for being named finalists - Carey Covers, Grampians Cycling, Grampians Estate, Steel Cutters Cottage, Kookaburra Hotel, Crowe Horwarth, Sertori & Co, Stawell Vets, Eventide Homes, Neilly's Café, and the Grampians Grape Escape.
I'm sure that some if not all, will come away with the spoils. Watch this space.
Last week we had our second meeting of the State Government Jobs Taskforce which is being chaired by Minister Jaala Pulford and Minister Jacinta Allan. All our business opportunities are moving forward - some slower than we would like - but all are in very positive and different stages of delivery. A very exciting opportunity is being explored with a large hydroponics company which could result in several hundred jobs if we are successful. Hopefully early in the new year we will be able to make an official announcement one way or the other.
That’s about it for November, and the next column will be about Christmas and the New Year so until then remember - "Water is an amazing commodity. Not only do we drink it, wash in it, and water our stock and gardens with it, but when we boil it, it can turn potatoes soft and eggs hard."
