WIMMERA mayors have urged residents to submit their ideas for a $30-million initiative where communities will vote on which projects receive government funding.
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The state government has launched Pick My Project, where anyone aged 16 or older can nominate community projects of between $20,000 and $200,000.
Residents will then get to vote for the projects they believe are most important. The $30 million will be shared across the nine regional partnership regions – which include the Wimmera Southern Mallee – and six metropolitan regions.
Each project nomination requires support from a community organisation, council, school or other group.
Yarriambiack Shire mayor Graeme Massey said the initiative was great opportunity for residents.
“I encourage people to have a good look and put some ideas forward,” he said.
“Even if they aren't successful, at least it brings those projects to council’s attention, and we can have a look at them in our budget process.”
Cr Massey said upgrades to skate parks, swimming pools and female changerooms at sporting grounds were on council’s wishlist.
“Anything to do with promoting activities, health or youth-oriented projects are things we are very interested in,” he said.
West Wimmera Shire mayor Jodie Pretlove said projects related to mobile coverage and connectivity were a priority. “All I hear from anyone over 16 is how much we need decent mobile phone service,” she said.
“I don’t know if those sorts of projects are within the scope of this program, but it’s a problem across the board in our shires. Until our governments start fixing this, how do we encourage and keep youth in our shires?
“The frustration is huge – it affects every kid I talk to.”
Hindmarsh Shire mayor Ron Ismay said sporting infrastructure upgrades were high priorities for shire residents.
“I know Rainbow is looking for new changerooms at the footy ground as they are woefully bad, and Nhill is looking to restore the grandstand at Davis Park as it's got to its used-by date,” he said.
“The human-powered vehicle event at Dimboola could use some money so we can upgrade the track and grow that event, and money could also go towards a master plan for the weir pool at Jeparit.
“If Jeparit is going to survive, I think the Wimmera River is the key.”
Northern Grampians mayor Tony Driscoll said the initiative had no restrictions on what types of projects could be nominated.
“It might be something that slips through the cracks and is not normally not covered by other funding streams that people would like to put forward,” he said.
“It’s about identifying these projects and then the community having a say on what they want.”
Horsham Rural City mayor Pam Clarke said public transport – particularly returning rail to Horsham – was the municipality’s top priority, and any project to help make that happen would be worthy of funding.