City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali has been elected as deputy chair of Regional Cities Victoria for this year.
Cr Sali was elected on Thursday, February 16 to lead alongside City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Andrea Metcalf, who was re-elected as chair.
RCV is made up of mayors and chief executive\s of the 10 largest cities outside Melbourne, who work together on issues and projects affecting regional cities.
Cr Sali said he was pleased to be elected to the position and looked forward to working closely with RCV to achieve positive outcomes.
“I chose to nominate for deputy chair as Andrea, the Mayor of Bendigo, is an exceptional person and chair,” he said.
“I thought I would take this opportunity to work closely with her over the next year to see what we can achieve for our regional cities.
“This allows the regional partners to remain relevant with our current state and federal government connections.”
Cr Sali said regional cities had shown resilience and strength through several years of hardship.
“It is so important that we continue to advocate to improve the infrastructure, services and amenities in regional areas to continue to attract people to work, live and visit these parts of the state,” he said.
Cr Sali’s predecessor as mayor, now state Member for Shepparton District Kim O’Keeffe, served as RCV deputy chair in 2019 before being elected as chair the following two years.