Do you know someone who goes above and beyond for our community? Is there a local group or individual who has made a real difference in Northern Grampians Shire this year? Now is the time to recognise them. Nominations are open for the 2026 Australia Day Awards, until December 5.
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At December's council meeting in St Arnaud, council resolved to review future community care service options in light of sweeping aged care sector reforms. The decision follows Federal Government changes to the way aged care services are funded and delivered, with new rules coming into effect in November. You can find more via the link below.
Published on 28 August 2020
Northern Grampians Shire Council meetings will be livestreamed over the web for anyone to view in real time from 7 September 2020. Councillors will be hosting the meeting as a webinar over Zoom which will be streamed directly to council’s YouTube channel for anyone interested in watching the proceedings. By holding meetings as a video conference, councillors can ensure themselves, council staff, and the wider community are protected from the potential spread of COVID-19 by avoiding physically gathering in one place. The public can submit questions with notice to council meetings and the only change to the current practice is that questioners will be provided with a Zoom invitation to attend the webinar to ask their question in real time. Questions without notice are still on hold due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Once the meeting has concluded, a video recording of the meeting will be available on both council’s YouTube channel and council’s website for anyone to view who was not able to watch the online meeting in real time. Northern Grampians Shire Council Mayor, Murray Emerson, said he and other members of the council are excited to be adopting new ways of conducting council business. “I won’t say it’s been an easy road figuring out how to adapt to this new normal but my fellow councillors and I are really looking forward to trying out this technology,” he said. “It’s going to be fantastic for our community to be able to tune in to our meetings no matter where they are.” This new way of ensuring access to our council meetings will be a new regular feature for Northern Grampians Shire Council and will continue in a post-COVID world as well. Northern Grampians Shire Council CEO, Liana Thompson, said ensuring everyone can access the council meetings is part of her action plan of improvement for the organisation. “Council was heavily criticised in the recent community satisfaction survey for community engagement and streaming our meetings online will provide increased transparency and accessibility to council decision making,” she said. “This is about more than protecting the community, it’s also about making sure our residents and ratepayers are included as an integral part of the council process.” Council was successful in receiving a grant from the Rural Councils ICT Infrastructure Program to stream council meetings online. To view the upcoming council meeting livestream on 7 September 2020, visit www.ngshire.vic.gov.au/council-meetings and follow the prompts or tune in via council’s YouTube channel five minutes before the scheduled meeting start time of 12.30pm. If you would like to submit a question with notice for the upcoming council meeting, visit www.ngshire.vic.gov.au/council-meetings and fill out the Questions With Notice online form.