Mayor's Message 28 July, 2023

Hello everyone, 

I’m really excited to share with you that the new Chiltern Community Hub will open its doors on  Monday.

While an official opening with government representatives is several weeks away, we are opening the doors to the community and will celebrate with a low key event from 10am.

If the latest photos below are anything to go by, the finished product is stunning and is sure to generate plenty of interest and hopefully much community excitement for Chiltern and surrounds.

Also creating a lot of interest is the old Beechworth Post Office which is currently surrounded by scaffolding. The building is listed in the Victorian heritage register and permits for works are the remit of Heritage Victoria. The owner and builder have been working with Heritage Victoria on this project, and Council doesn’t have any statutory involvement.

This beautiful building is one of the most photographed in Beechworth and is such an important part of our heritage landscape. I’m really looking forward to seeing it restored and again take centre stage.

On Tuesday night Council held it monthly meeting. Although not a huge agenda, there were some big items for decision, including the kerbside waste collection contract, worth around $30M over the next 10 years. You can read more about this further in this update.

We also had an urgent business item to discuss and that was regarding the Chiltern Destination Playspace and a funding application to the Federal Government’s Growing Region Program. While Council agreed at it June meeting to apply for grants for both the playspace project and the Rutherglen Silo Art Precinct, we’ve since withdrawn our EOI for the playspace.

We received information from the funding body advising us against putting forward two projects in close proximity and the timelines for completion were simply unrealistic for a project of this scale and complexity.

We know it's disappointing for Chiltern residents, however we have agreed to revisit the feasibility and scope of the project and explore other more appropriate funding streams. We will progress with supporting a Tourism North East application for the Rutherglen Silo Precinct and Community Arts Hub project.

Also at our meeting we heard from Yackandandah’s John Dermer who received a King's Birthday honour, awarded an OAM for his service to creative arts as a ceramicist. It was a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge John and celebrate his achievement on behalf of the Indigo community.

Have a safe weekend

Sophie Price