Councillor Ron Eason, elected mayor of Pyrenees Shire Council on Wednesday night, said his priority for the next 12 months will be "lifting the doom and gloom we've had to put up with for two years".
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A second-time mayor, now in his third term on council representing the Avoca ward, Cr Eason said the focus needed to be on COVID recovery.
"The last two mayors have had to deal with COVID, and I'm hoping we're just about coming out of the COVID issue, and that I can put us on a track to try and get back to as normal as possible, get businesses back to having people through the door and get people back to having a smile on their face," he said.
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"Pyrenees is a wonderful place to come and visit, have a look at our wineries, visit the hills - get out of Ballarat's central area and see what Victoria's got to offer.
"In regard to projects and the like, we're always looking to improve the roads, improve the infrastructure we have within the shire for the people of the shire to use.
"You have other things affecting that like the transmission lines project coming through the shire, and we have to take notice of what's going on even if it's all outside-sourced - we still have to look after people's interest who are in the shire."
Cr Eason runs the Avoca newsagency, according to a Pyrenees Shire media release, after moving to the town in 2009 following a career with the Tatura Milk Company.
He takes over from Cr Damian Ferrari, who served as mayor in 2020-21.
All rural councils face severe infrastructure challenges, particularly in road maintenance - there are simply less ratepayers per kilometre than bigger towns and cities - and Cr Eason said Pyrenees was no different.
"Everything is costing more, because of all the projects going on around the state, and the money that is available for infrastructure, it doesn't go as far as it used to - you're spending more money to get the same kilometre of road," he said.
"There's only so many tradies, only so many people who can build a road or a bridge or a new transmission line or whatever, and if they're spread thinly across the state because of COVID or major projects in Melbourne, it makes it harder for rural areas to get their jobs done."
He pointed to a new state government-mandated process for greater community engagement with councils as a positive.
"We have to plan further in the future, we have to include more community involvement in our discussions and working with the community," he said.
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"We're in the process of bringing all those things that have been included in our new systems to fruition, to get the community more involved.
"We hope the community takes the opportunity to become more involved, because it's their community, it doesn't belong to the five councillors."
Pyrenees Shire Council is the first of Ballarat's neighbouring shires to elect a mayor - Hepburn and Golden Plains councils will hold their elections on Tuesday, November 16, with Moorabool to follow on November 24.
The City of Ballarat re-elected Cr Daniel Moloney on November 1.
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