Council last night adopted its 2021-22 Annual Report, which outlines Council's performance and key achievements and challenges during the financial year 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, measured against the key objectives and strategies included in the Council Plan 2021-2025 and the Budget 2021-2022.
"It was another challenging year for Council as we waited for COVID-normal to arrive and getting the community back together and stronger than ever was our focus, as well as setting ourselves up for the shire's future growth potential," said Mayor Kate Hanson. "In March, we paused to express our appreciation to some of the many people who contributed to keeping our community safe as we hosted a Civic Thank You event in March 2022."
Getting the community back together included moving our Community Awards to a larger stage at the Colac Kana Festival and continuing to welcome new Australian citizens who have chosen the shire as their home.
Council continued to support many community groups and businesses as they bounced back, including the distribution of more than $335,000 in community grants as a result of 110 applications, as well as the delivery of fully subsidised digital support programs to 30 local small businesses as part of our COVID recovery initiatives.
"It was a year where we had wins in setting the community up for the future growth in the shire with the attraction of significant infrastructure funding, including oval lighting upgrades and the Colac city reserves planning project," said Mayor Hanson, "as well as $3 million from the Victorian Government for the Elliminyt Wetlands project, adding to $1.2 million of Federal Government funding."
The sale of our Bruce Street property in Colac, and work towards rezoning land in Deans Creek, will also help open up much-needed residential land supply in the shire.
The environment continued to be a strategic focus and our environmental leadership saw us purchase 100 per cent Greenpower, which has had a considerable impact on our emissions, as well as our street trees and open spaces programs alongside the planting of 2,575 biodiversity-focused trees, shrubs, grassed and lillies.
We also rolled out the glass-only purple bin, as well as undertaking reconstruction of a number of key roads across the shire and developed our Long Term Financial Plan, Asset Plan and Workforce Plan, as required by the Local Government Act 2020, as well as adopting our Community Vision 2050 and Council Plan 2021-25. Our first Gender Equity Action Plan helped to position us as an employer of choice.
"Our workforce faced lockdowns, vaccine mandates and ever-changing working arrangements," said CEO Anne Howard. "I'm proud of our councillors and officers in the way everyone has adapted and made continuous improvements for our customers, such as introducing online service delivery and moving to a cloud-based phone system."
"Like other Councils, businesses and households, Council is moving into a period of greater financial challenge as we face the highest inflation for many years, global uncertainty and competitive markets," said Ms Howard. "We will continue to strengthen our financial, asset and project management practices to ensure that public money is used effectively."
