Community vision sessions will help shape 2024 agenda

Wattle Range Council has some clear work to be done in the next 12 months but that 2024 to-do list is a working document that will see plenty items added once council completes its newly instigated community vision sessions.

Wattle Range Mayor Des Noll said he has always led with a clear theme in mind – that within the community you don’t leave anyone behind.

“It is about council supporting all the residents the best way they can,” Mayor Noll said, and that’s why running the community vision sessions in all 13 Wattle Range communities was so critical.

“It will identify what the communities see as a priority for this year and beyond.

“We will be gathering information relating to projects for the future and once we have gathered that information and the ideas have been accepted we will include it in council’s strategic plan for implementation and budgeting.”

The Mayor said the overriding principle of council was ensuring the slogan framing Wattle Range as a great place to live and work was more than just words but the lived experience of everyone in the region.

“We would be looking for the community vision session projects to fall under one of these four main themes – vibrancy and presentation; environmental sustainability; infrastructure and asset sustainability and operational excellence,” he said.

Even without the expected plethora of grassroots ideas to come from the community vision sessions, council already has a comprehensive list of 2024 projects.

The Millicent Swimming Lake rebuild; Millicent council service centre development; innovation of electric vehicle trials; fire services upgrade for McLaughlin Park; roads re-sheeting across the council area; Beachport Museum fire fighting upgrade; Penola public toilet upgrade; Penola stormwater construction program and the Limestone Coast Telstra Connectivity Program are all set down as priorities for 2024.

And then there’s council’s advocacy role across a number of key areas, including health, where council has a strong voice in the Millicent Health Advisory Committee, education, road maintenance and funding, housing, coastal erosion and jetty maintenance.

“They are issues we are talk about all the time and we will continue to do so,” Mr Noll said. “That means working closely with the Limestone Coast Local Government Association, because as they say – there’s strength in numbers.

“Local government is a complex and multi-faceted institution that provides hundreds of different services to a diverse and geographically distributed community. Services range from childcare to cemeteries with a whole range of things in the middle.”

There is also one more pressing concern for 2024 and that is the upcoming supplementary election to select a councillor for the Corcoran Ward.

“I would encourage any eligible person to consider this opportunity to serve their community and have their voice heard.”