Henry Burridge is ready to take part in the upcoming Ararat Rural City Council elections.
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Mr Burridge is no stranger to the election process, having last ran for a seat in 2015.
"Last time I didn't get the preference votes, but I have learned from that experience and I know a lot more people now," he said.
"I have been interested in council for a long time and I think at the moment we have a good chief executive and he needs support ... I can help move the city forward."
Mr Burridge is a TAFE teacher at Hopkins Correctional Centre - previously working as a prison officer for four years.
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"I am only working at the prison a couple of days a week. So I now have the time and the energy to give council another go," he said.
"In 1986, I moved to Ararat with my family because I was offered a two-year contract as a nurse educator at Aradale Hospital.
"I recently sold my retail business Freechoice Ararat and we still operate an accommodation business in Ararat."
Mr Burridge said as councillor he would focus on developing additional infrastructure to support the increasing population in Ararat.
"I see this especially with the coronavirus at the moment. There is going to be a real push for Melbourne people to move into the country and a lot of older people too," he said.
"That is going to place a lot of pressure on our town in terms of housing.
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"If Ararat is to embrace this opportunity then strategic planning will be required to prepare for the increase in population and the additional demand on services and facilities such as housing, hospitals, employment, education ... "
"We need to start doing some planning in terms of infrastructure and get some development programs going. There is not really a major residential development in town."
Mr Burridge said the agriculture sector also needed support from council.
"Supporting our agriculture is a priority. We have a lot of potential to add value to the products we have here," he said.
"We currently have the abattoir that processes a lot of the meats but a lot of the products grown locally we are not doing much with them."
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