Councillor Catch up Indigo Is Proud to Be Plasticwise
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www.indigoshire.vic.gov.au September – October 2018 Councillor catch up From the Mayor Cr Jenny O’Connor Hi everyone Welcome to this new column. Different Councillors will contribute to this for each edition of the Informer. Our aim is for you to get to know your Councillors better through this column and as always, we welcome any feedback. We are in a particularly exciting time at the moment with work on the $1.84m Rutherglen Economic Revitalisation Project ramping up and Martins Lane in Chiltern now looking like a ‘town square’ for people to gather and relax. Council’s stand on becoming a plastic-free organisation is a great move and we encourage the rest of the community to continue their efforts in reducing our use of plastics. In the centre pages you will find a list of the capital works we intend to complete across the Shire this year. This is a large body of prioritised work each year and it provides important infrastructure and services for our community. On a much broader note, I mention Mayor Cr Jenny O’Connor with a basket of alternatives for plastic items. National Child Protection Week from 2 – 8 September. Council will be supporting this week, including White Balloon Day on 7 September. This is the longest Indigo is proud to be plasticwise running annual national awareness campaign for the prevention of child Indigo Shire is leading the way in There are simple changes we can all sexual assault. We are planning our sustainability by committing to reducing, make to reduce plastics, such as bringing involvement and will be publicising this and eventually removing, single-use plastics your own coffee cup or water bottle, closer to the time. from all Council operations and events. dining in, using boomerang bags and The Plasticwise Policy, adopted by taking your own containers when buying Council in July, responds to growing takeaway and deli foods. Community Forums community concern about the We are encouraging committees, clubs • Tuesday September 18 – Sandy environmental impacts of waste, and businesses across the Shire to do particularly single-use plastic. their part. Look out for the ‘Proud to be Creek/Kergunyah at Sandy Plasticwise’ stickers in shops and cafes; Creek Hall, 6pm-7pm Plastics never disappear, they break up into smaller pieces that contaminate waterways this means the business is taking steps • Tuesday October 16 – Chiltern and end up being ingested by animals and to reduce plastic. Memorial Hall, 6pm-7pm humans. A huge amount of resources, For more information on the Plasticwise • Tuesday November 13 – like water and petrochemicals, goes into Policy, including tips on what you can do Wahgunyah School of Arts Hall, making single-use plastics, and this process to reduce plastic waste, visit the Indigo 6pm-7pm also contributes to climate change. Shire website. Spring into action against European wasps – Page 6 2 strength of community Connecting our community Help is only a call away for Indigo Shire residents, with two new services to support and connect people in our community. Indigo Calling is a telephone visiting program where trained volunteers make regular phone calls to participants to have a chat and check-in. A team of is supported by an Age Friendly volunteer Community Connectors will Victoria grant from State Government also be on hand to help people find Department of Health and Human services and activities in their own Services. Indigo Calling and Community communities. Both services are a way to Connectors will both be delivered by help our residents feel less isolated and Beechworth Health Service, Indigo more connected to the community. North Health and Yackandandah Health. If you, or someone you know, would like These programs were developed to find out more please contact your following community feedback on closest local health service. Council’s Ageing Well project, which Putting our customers first Roz steps into We are always trying to improve on our We recognise that all members of our mentor role customer service and have a new Customer community expect us to provide a A big thank you to Roz Ellerbock, Service Charter in place. It is based on the personalised, responsive service. one of the newest mentors in belief that excellent customer service is: We encourage you to offer feedback on Council’s Learn to Drive L2P • relating to people in a positive, both the services we offer, and the way program. The program helps meaningful way they are delivered. disadvantaged young learner drivers (aged 16-21) to get the 120 • sharing our knowledge and By telling us what we’re doing well, driving hours needed to graduate to information in a responsive manner and where you would like to see their Ps, by matching them with a • responding to customers’ requests in an improvement, you help us stay mentor from their community who an appropriate and timely manner connected with the community and takes them out driving regularly • respect for your privacy and continue to meet your needs. The in a vehicle supplied by Council. confidentiality and that of others Charter is on our website. The program runs in Rutherglen, Beechworth, Yackandandah and We commit to responding to Tangambalanga. We still need you when you contact us more mentors in Beechworth, In person by next business day Yackandandah and Tangambalanga, so if you relate well to young Over the phone by next business day people and can spare an hour a Via email within 4 business days week, please contact L2P Support In writing within 10 business days Officer Anna on 0417 156 598 or [email protected] From our website by next business day for more information. Via Facebook by next business day Survey says … still one of the best Each year the Victorian Government conducts a community satisfaction survey of local government councils. For Indigo Shire, the 2018 survey involved 400 phone calls (landline and mobile) to residents in February and March 2018 across three postcode regions, as below: 1 Wahgunyah, Rutherglen, Chiltern, Barnawartha, Indigo Valley area 2. Kiewa-Tangambalanga, Sandy Creek, Yackandandah area 3. Beechworth, Wooragee, Stanley area. The results show that Indigo has once again scored well in this survey, maintaining a consistent score over the past few years. This year the results in six out of the seven compulsory measures for Indigo, were significantly higher than the average for the Small Rural group of councils that Indigo Shire belongs to. And Indigo’s scores were above the average ratings on all seven core measures for the State-wide group, which includes big regional and metropolitan councils. Indigo informer September – October 2018 building a better future 3 Young people leading the way Young people in Indigo Shire have a new mechanism to express their views and access more leadership training. Council’s Youth Ambassadors Program was borne out of youth consultations in 2016, when young people, parents and service providers working with young people across the Shire expressed a clear desire for a stronger youth voice and more leadership training opportunities for local young people. The program started in July, with the first session facilitated with leadership mentors from The Meeting Space. In this first year the new Youth Ambassadors Program will engage two groups of young people, our Junior Youth Ambassadors made up of 15 Year 5 students representing each primary school in the shire and our Senior Youth Ambassadors made up of 12 14-18 year olds from Wahgunyah to Tangambalanga and all points in between. The aim is to have youth representatives from each key community training in leadership, communication and team work development and engaging these young people in discussions and direct actions to create positive change in their communities. Youth Events go Plastic Wise Community energy The annual Battle of the Bands event in June at the Rutherglen Memorial Hall was a movement builds roaring success again this year, hosted by the talented Rutherglen Youth Action crew. The crew made the event their first Plastic Wise Youth event, following Council’s momentum commitment to reducing the use of single use soft plastics. The Youth Crew ensured that all performers and audience members were either using reusable stainless steel Following in the footsteps of Totally water bottles or paper cups, chose plastic wise options for catering and decorations, Renewable Yackandandah (TRY), action and set up a soft plastics recycle station for soft plastics brought in by audience on climate change and community members. owned energy is spreading across the Shire. 2018 has seen the launch of Totally Renewable Beechworth, with several community engagement and educational events held. Both groups, along with many others in the broader region, are all working together on common goals, including a community energy retailer. The vision for the community energy retailer is to source clean, renewable energy, generated in the region, and invest in local energy initiatives, and keep profits from electricity sales local. Indigo Shire would An artist’s views of what the new skate park will be like when operational. love to help groups in other towns join this movement, please contact us if you are interested. Skating into the future The final design for stage two of the Funding for the new Skate Park is made new Yackandandah Skate Park is nearing up of a $100,000 grant from Sport and completion, with construction expected Recreation Victoria and $155,000 of to start towards the end of this year. Council funds. The final design is based on input from a community working group made up of Construction of stage one is expected to 32 people from across the shire. be complete by the end of 2018.