New resident takes on seaside mayoral role

Experienced local government advocate has ambitious vision for the future of Robe

six years ago to enjoy an idyllic retirement with her husband. The seaside town, where they had enjoyed a pre-marriage holiday, ideally situated between their three children and eight grandchildren that call Melbourne, Bendigo and Adelaide home.

A Ruffell retirement was never going to be just long lunches and walks on the beach – they run two businesses and have immersed themselves in a variety of community groups – but things have taken an interesting turn with Lisa now sitting in the mayoral chair after the town was initially left without a candidate for the top job.

Elected unopposed at the recent supplementary election, Lisa has hit the ground running in her new role after fellow councillors encouraged her to put her hand up for the vacant position.

“That encouragement from the councillors around the table saying they were in favour of me putting my hand up made it an easy decision,” Mayor Ruffell said. Her resume includes plenty of local government experience – she spent eight years as a councillor and mayor in Bendigo.

“I’ve always been involved in local government,” she said. “That’s the grassroots of a community and if you want to achieve anything that’s where you need to be. You can advise the State Government and the Federal Government about what your community needs.

“At the end of the day, you are there for the community and you need to put your voice out there.” In Bendigo, Mayor Ruffell was working with a $269million dollar budget – in Robe that is a $6-7million dollar pot of money but the skills transfer.

“Even when you have the large budget in a big council, you still have attract funding to get things done – you probably just need that support even more in a small council,” she said.

“We (Robe) really have to rely on funding from State and Federal Government and we have to help the community understand we can’t have everything,” Mayor Ruffell said.

“But that being said you can plan. If you have some kind of five, 10 and even 20 year plan, it shows the next generation what you are trying to achieve.

“When I was in Bendigo I found it worked really well to do projects in stages and while it might take more time but it gets done.” An example of that is Bendigo’s White Hills Botanical Garden – a project started under Mayor Ruffell’s leadership and completed just recently.

“You can achieve more for your community if you budget in stages,” she said. Mayor Ruffell believes Robe is a town of untapped potential and she looks forward to working with the elected members to starting tapping into the potential.

“It is just so beautiful here,” she said. “You can retire here, can have a family life here, can run a business and can be an entrepreneur.”

As with most regional local councils, infrastructure heads the priority list.

“You need to have the facilities for both the locals and tourists,” Mayor Ruffell said.

She has already been shocked to find out there are not even basic requirements in the town’s industrial area.

“The bring their own water in – that can’t happen,” she said. “Robe is rapidly growing and we need infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing community.” And she has other ideas floating around, including the establishment of a surf life saving club, a stadium for sports like netball and basketball, and angle parking adjacent the school, especially to cope with the influx of visitors.

“The roads have been neglected and the entrance way to our town needs to be glowing – that is a priority for me,” Mayor Ruffell said. She also has earmarked working towards an alternate road in and out of the town as a crucial development.

“I know it’s been talked about and we really need to address it – things like the big trucks going down the main street,” Mayor Ruffell said.

“There’s really so much opportunity here and that’s why we opened the jewellers and opened the chocolate shop and there is so much potential for Robe to grow into the future.”