THE Victorian Electoral Commission is currently reviewing the Northern Grampians Shire Council to ensure it represents its constituents fairly.
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All Victorian councils undergo a VEC review every 12 years, and earlier this year the Ararat Rural City Council was also reviewed.
The review looks into how fairly the council structure represents a municipality, and considers things such as the number of councillors and whether a municipality should be divided into wards or be undivided.
It does not look at whether a municipality's boundaries should be changed.
During the last review in 2007 the VEC recommended the shire change from two wards with nine councillors to four wards with seven councillors.
Currently the Northern Grampians Shire Council is divided into four wards: South West, Stawell, Central, and Kara Kara. Seven members sit on the council.
An information session was held on October 29 and 30 in St Arnaud and Stawell, with a public preliminary submission period opening on the same day.
The preliminary submission period will provide residents with the chance to submit their thoughts on what the outcome of the review should be.
The VEC has received two submissions to date.
One made an argument in favour of abolishing wards as they limited the chances of an individual being elected.
The second submission was supportive of the current number of councillors representing the region and stated that number was comparable to municipalities of similar populations.
It was also in support of maintaining the current ward structure to fairly represent St Arnaud and Stawell respectively.
It did, however, recommend a shifting of current ward boundaries.
Newly appointed mayor of Northern Grampians Shire Council Councillor Murray Emerson said so far the community had not shown much interest in the review.
This compares with the high amount of community interest the Ararat review gauged, with seven submissions made in the preliminary stage and a robust community meeting.
"The most interest shown in this VEC stuff is usually by us people ourselves to help the VEC make the correct decision for the region," Cr Emerson said.
Cr Emerson added he thought it was unlikely the current representation and ward structure would change.
"Part of the reason I form that opinion is some of the smaller rural shires similar to us who have had their review completed haven't had any change," he said.
Any changes would take effect after council elections in 2020.
The submission period will close on November 27 at 5pm, and a report will then be published on January 29, 2020.
Following that will be a period for response submissions, which will close on February 26, 2020 at 5pm.
On March 4, 2020 a public hearing will be conducted at 6pm at the Council Chambers on Longfield Street, Stawell.
The VEC will release its final report on March 25, 2020.
Residents can make a submission here.
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