Council hits the ground running

The District Council of Grant has hit the ground running in 2024 with a clear list of priorities as it looks to advance or wrap up a number of key projects.

Grant District Mayor Kylie Boston said the first order of business was lodging the Growing Regions Grant application for the Saleyards Transformation Project which is due January 15.

“That has been our number one,” Mayor Boston said.

“Hopefully if the federal Government comes through with the funding we will be able to continue this collaborative project with the State Government as well.”

Council’s strategic management plan review is also in full swing.

“We’ve consulted with the citizen jury three times and they have some back with more information and then we will put it out for broader public consultation,” Mayor Boston said. “It is an important decision to set the direction of our plans over the next 12 months and for the next 10-20 years.

“The citizen jury has been a really interesting way of doing it. There has been a range of different people involved with that and they have been interested to sit down and look at our direction and look at where they see the District Council of Grant going.”

There has also already been a hive of activity at the Mount Gambier regional Airport with the replacing of the water tanks to support fire fighting capabilities – work made possible through a Federal Disaster Ready Funding grant.

“Those tanks were nearly 40 years old and we are excited to get help with this project because that infrastructure is so important for our fire fighting capabilities.”

The Mayor was also excited that the council’s road maintenance program, with $6million in its capital works budget, was on track.

“Adrian (Schutz) and his team makes that money go as far as they can,” Mayor Boston said. “People always talk about council concentrating on rates , rubbish and roads and that’s what we are doing with the roads maintenance program. Roads are a really important part of what we do.”

The Mayor also encourages community groups to contact council if they have projects on their wishlist with work soon to commence on the creating of the 2024-25 budget.