Mayor's Message 3 November

Hi everyone,

At Tuesday’s monthly Council meeting, we made a decision that resulted from overwhelming community feedback about the management of cats within our Shire.

When we went to the community earlier this year about a proposal to introduce a cat curfew, we received more than 900 survey responses, with strong support to introduce a 24/7 curfew to property boundaries and for mandatory desexing of cats to be a condition of all new registrations.

When this went to the vote, it was unanimous with all seven councillors supportive of the new laws. Since Tuesday night, I have been contacted by a number of media outlets and the majority of commentary on social platforms has been supportive of our decision.

There is overwhelming evidence that roaming cats are a serious threat to bio-diversity and can also cause public nuisance. The curfew not only aligns with state-wide trends, it also means that containment rules for cats will now be in line with those that exist for dogs.

Domestic cat owners now have six months to introduce containment measures at their properties and between now and then, we will release as much information as we can to assist residents adapt to this change. To clear-up any confusion the containmentis to property boundaries, not to the house. Read our Media Release.

Also on Tuesday night, we awarded significant funds to more than 50 community groups under three of our grant streams. We are really pleased to be able to offer this funding and we know that those who receive this monetary support are very grateful.

Finally, it was great to welcome Beechworth Keep Australia Beautiful Committee Members Iris Mannik and Anne Wilson to the Chamber to present to us the Beechworth Tidy Town of the Year award.

Both women spoke with immense pride and passion for our community and their commitment to the awards is unwavering. They are now off to the National Awards in Gascoyne Junction in WA and we will be keeping our fingers and toes crossed for more success in the future.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

Regards
Cr Sophie Price