One of the first jobs new councillors will be faced with is developing the council plan for the next four years. All candidates seem to agree that the budget needs to be brought back into line, however it is important to have a vison for the term of council. New projects need to be submitted and then ranked in order of preference, unless they are put on the list when the council plan is made it is very difficult to have them added later. These new projects may not be completed or even commenced during the term of elected councillors, if Warrnambool is to progress we need to start planning for the future. The city currently has two large projects that are funded, the Reid oval and the new library. Candidates should not be afraid to put forward visionary ideas as Warrnambool is growing and will need new infrastructure, the planning process and obtaining funding is a slow procedure. Warrnambool missed out on COVIC funding recently as we had no projects shovel ready.
In the past the meeting of councillors to establish the four year plan has been held outside of Warrnambool, incurring costs for accommodation and food. Let’s hope we have a new council that will stand up and say we can do this in Warrnambool, this will be a start to reduce costs.