By Kate Taylor<\/p>\n
Paul Tatchell has been elected as Mayor of Moorabool Shire, entering a record fourth term in the role.
\nCr Tatchell, who represents the Central Ward, served his first term from November 2013 to November 2014, and again from November 2014-2015, with Alan Comrie serving as mayor from 2015-2016, Dave Edwards from 2016-2017, and Cr Tatchell again from 2017-2018.
\nThe process was not, however, a simple one.
\nMoorabool\u2019s new CEO Derek Madden pointed out during the Monday 26 November meeting, held to appoint the mayor, that councillors have been doing it wrong for years.
\nThe councillors and CEO discussed, with laughs coming from the gallery, whether a councillor could self-nominate or whether they needed a councillor to nominate them and then another to second the nomination before they became a candidate for Mayor.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the process set out in the local government act,\u201d Mr Madden told surprised councillors.
\nAfter an, at times confusing nomination process involving several nominations without seconders, Woodlands Ward Councillor Pat Toohey nominated Cr Tom Sullivan (West) and East Ward Councillor Dave Edwards nominated Cr Tatchell; East Ward Councillor Jarrod Bingham seconded the nomination and the vote (5\/2) saw Cr Tatchell installed to serve back-to-back terms.
\nEast Ward Councillor John Keogh was voted in as Deputy Mayor.
\nMayor Tatchell said that his priority for this term will be putting forward Moorabool\u2019s case for funding in the lead up to the federal election, expected to be held early to mid-next year.
\nHe said that Moorabool overall recorded a swing against the Labor government in the recent state election and that while it wasn\u2019t federal, it suggests that Moorabool residents are sick of being ignored.
\n\u201cMoorabool is depreciating itself to death. The equation is that we have abnormally high growth, the second highest in the peri-urban, with abnormally low infrastructure funding. You don\u2019t have to be Einstein\u2019s second cousin to work out that something\u2019s going to give,\u201d he told the Moorabool News.
\n\u201cParties still have a city-centric mentality. All we want is parity. If they want us to be a decentralised shire\u2026 then put your money where your mouth is.
\n\u201cCommon sense falls under the Foreign Minister\u2019s portfolio – because it\u2019s all foreign to them.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a fight that Mayor Tatchell is familiar with, as he told Steve Martin on Ballarat ABC Radio recently \u201cthe politicians see Moorabool as the road to get to Ballarat, they don\u2019t even tap-and-go on the way through, they just go straight to Ballarat and write the big cheques.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done the strategic work, got our books in order\u2026 but it doesn\u2019t appear to matter when it comes to funding.\u201d
\nStill, things are most definitely happening in Moorabool.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of the biggest infrastructure program the shire has seen since amalgamation, we continue to carry out works – with \u2018needed\u2019 over \u2018nice-to-haves.\u2019 That\u2019s the reality.
\n\u201cI\u2019d prefer this term as Mayor to bring everyone together, to try and understand what the problems we face are, and the solutions of the future.\u201d
\nCr Tatchell was first elected to Moorabool council in 2012 and then again in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kate Taylor Paul Tatchell has been elected as Mayor of Moorabool Shire, entering a record fourth term in the role. Cr Tatchell, who represents the Central Ward, served his first term from November 2013 to November 2014, and again from November 2014-2015, with Alan Comrie serving as mayor from 2015-2016, Dave Edwards from 2016-2017, […]<\/p>\n