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August Meeting Wrap

Publish Date: 16 August 2019

Buloke Shire Council at its August Ordinary Meeting awarded the contract to supply a series of toilets across the Shire, endorsed the revised Community Grants and Sponsorship Guidelines, set the dates for upcoming swimming pool season and moved a motion to advocate for increased social housing in the Shire.

Landmark Engineering and Design Pty Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply a series of prefabricated toilet amenity buildings as part of the Drought Communities Programme, funded earlier this year. New facilities will be built in Berriwillock, Culgoa, Nandaly, Nullawil and Wycheproof by the end of the year.

Council endorsed the revised Community Grants and Sponsorship Guidelines. The guidelines, supporting the Community Grants and Sponsorship Program which is of significant value to the community, ensure that the application process is user friendly for the community and that the evaluation process is practical and transparent.

Council has set the 2019/20 swimming pool season. The gates will open at all seven of Council’s pools on Friday 8 November 2019 with the season scheduled to conclude on Monday 9 March 2020.

The season will also see the retention of the Cold Weather Policy which allows Council to ‘bank’ days that the pools don’t open due to weather conditions so as to extend the season if warmer weather continues beyond the scheduled close of the season. Buloke’s swimming pool season is consistent with other Loddon Mallee region pools.

Council will enter into a management agreement for the Wycheproof Caravan Park with WycheAlive Inc., the township forum, for a period of three years.

Council undertook an expression of Interest process for the management of the Caravan Park after conducting an internal review of park operations earlier this year. Placing the park under the management of WycheAlive Inc. will enable a more efficient and targeted service.

Council has endorsed the submission by the Loddon Mallee Group of Councils (LMGC) to the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety.

The key objective in Council’s endorsement of the LMGC submission is to ensure that the vision of the World Health Organisation can be achieved in Buloke.

It has been agreed that Council will purchase all of its electricity via the Local Government Power Purchase Agreement.

The agreement, investigated last year by 39 Shires including Buloke, is a unique opportunity to join the biggest Council renewable energy purchasing activity ever seen in Australia. It is forecast that the group will achieve a 12% saving on electricity over 10 years.

As the recycling crisis continues across Victoria, Council has thrown its support behind Frankston City Council to help motivate the Victorian Government to introduce a Container Deposit Scheme as well as calling for the Municipal Association of Victoria to advocate for the scheme as a matter of urgency.

Finally, Council will investigate opportunities to increase social housing in Buloke. It has been revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services intends to demolish a block of social housing flats in Wycheproof that were destroyed by fire in 2018 and have no plans to replace them.

Council will write to Minister for Housing, Mr Richard Wynne MP and the Director of Housing to request that the social housing flats are replaced and that they consider increasing the overall social housing stock in Buloke.

Minutes and documents relating to the August Ordinary Meeting will be made available on Council’s website. The next Ordinary Meeting of Council will be held on Wednesday 11 September 2019.

End release 
For further information contact Manager Customer Engagement, Travis Fitzgibbon on 03 5478 0181 or tfitzgibbon@buloke.vic.gov.au


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