Moorabool Shire Council has re-elected Councillor Tom Sullivan as mayor for a second consecutive term.
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This will be his fourth time serving as mayor, with Cr Tonia Dudzik as deputy.
Cr Sullivan took the reins for the previous term facing a long recovery from the pandemic, but said this term will be focused on the federal and state elections.
"I think there's a lot of work that was commenced in 2021, and hopefully I can help in delivering some of that stuff going into the future," he said.
"We've got a very good mix of councillors at Moorabool, with great skillsets, and over the last 12 months, it's been a very challenging year for everybody, with online meetings - I say jokingly, the phrase of 2021 is 'you're on mute, we can't hear you', I reckon I say that 10 times a meeting.
"I don't think (COVID's) going to go away ever, I'm not a medical person but I see it as something we have to live with, it's how we deal with it and get on with things - I don't think we can keep locking things down every time someone sneezes, we have to accept it and that it's part of the external environment we're living in, and just keep on keeping on."
He said his priority will be getting "building blocks' right to encourage more investment in the shire, particularly in its industrial zones which are somewhat under-utilised.
"We've had significant growth in recent times, with a lot of new residents, and to complement that we'd like to see more local jobs created," he said.
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"I think we need to look at the broad strategic stuff rather than the shiny baubles - they're nice, but we need to put in the building blocks that build the community into the future."
He noted council's push for an improved sewerage network in smaller towns, as well as developing industrial estates in Ballan and Bacchus Marsh, as initiatives that needed attention.
"Council could advocate to get governments to invest in those services to unlock that potential, that's a role of council to bring the agencies together to show it's something of great opportunity going forward, to grow the local economy, create jobs, and help with decentralisation."
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