Veteran Pyrenees Shire councillor and local farmer David Clark will lead the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) for the next two years, after being elected president of the board this week.
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The MAV is the peak representative and advocacy body for the state's 79 councils. Cr Clark had run for the presidency twice in the past, and has been a deputy president.
Cr Clark has been a past deputy President of the MAV Board and served on the board from 2013 to 2019.
Speaking to The Courier, David Clark said Victoria's councils were going to play an absolutely vital role in rebuilding the state after the pandemic.
"I think there's a really big role for us in COVID recovery," Cr Clark said.
"We've already done a number of program things for the government, but we're the arms and legs of getting stuff done for businesses and for communities. I think that's a really major and pressing issue in the centre of this. I think the second one is how well we can manage this: there's a real change in terms of people moving out into the country.
"We've had about a 20 per cent increase in planning applications in Pyrenees Shire this year, already. We're under-resourcing those key people who make those decisions. So keeping the system working and allowing people to do what they want to do, with our regulatory hat on, is a really critical thing for us.
"And that's really getting the resources needed into councils, to get people trained. And while it's not our direct role, it's actually our role to facilitate and help those kind of things happen in the system. We need to be renewing our assets, to be doing it at about 80 per cent. Otherwise you are falling behind."
Cr Clark is the third generation of his family to serve as a councillor and says much has changed in the job since he first began over 20 years ago.
He says in the days of his father and grandfather, both of whom were shire representatives, things were very different. Even in his own memory, the very limited recompense offered to councillors meant telling constituents who were badgering on an issue it was important to cut to the chase - in the politest way possible, of course.
"It was very much a community service," Cr Clark said.
"I think I'm good at the stuff that guides things; I'm not as good on the hands-on, but I'm really good at guiding and helping people find answers. I personally believe that in myself. I've done a lot of work in the environment space over many years. Any little government can make a good contribution really quickly. You can actually do a lot of good things for people in a quick way."
Councillor Clark will serve as MAV president until 2023.
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