City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali has welcomed the release of details outlining the council’s restructure, saying people can now prepare for the local government elections in October.
“We all knew it was coming,” he said after the announcement.
“Obviously, Greater Shepparton City Council’s position was not to support a ward structure.
“We shared through the consultation process that we believed the current format — un-subdivided across the city, giving nine councillors representation right across the whole of Greater Shepparton — was best, but we knew the minister was going to proceed with this.”
The change will come into effect after the October election.
It means candidates for the election will nominate which ward they are standing for, and if elected, will be the sole councillor to represent that ward beyond the election.
The current nine councillors will continue to represent the whole municipal region until the election.
Earlier this year, Cr Sali urged Local Government Minister Melissa Horne to delay the historic restructuring until after the elections but he has accepted the reforms will go ahead.
“A decision’s been made now, and everyone across the whole state has some direction as to what their structure’s going to look like come this year’s election,” Cr Sali said shortly after the minister’s announcement.
“I’ve had a very brief look, and everything seems pretty consistent with what was proposed across the two options in the initial consultation phase. Just a couple of name changes from the first look at it.
“At least now everyone has some clear direction as to what it looks like.”
Ms Horne has confirmed that Greater Shepparton will be divided into nine wards: Balaclava, Goulburn River, Kialla, Lower Goulburn, McEwen, Midland, Pine Lodge, Poplar and Yanha Gurtji.
Shepparton itself will be divided into five wards: McEwen, Balaclava, Poplar, Kialla and Yanha Gurtji.
The remaining four wards have attempted to keep rural communities together in each ward.
“I’m glad the announcement has been made because it was almost getting too late, but now everyone can digest it and determine what they want to do,” Cr Sali said.
“My intention is to put my hand up for the next election.
“It’s my intention to run again, but where (which ward)? I won’t make that decision until a little bit later.”
The process for electing the mayoral and deputy mayoral positions will remain the same with elected councillors holding a vote for those roles.