I'm reminded of just how strong and resilient our community has been, constantly looking after each other and finding new ways to innovate, serve and connect.

I am also incredibly proud of the work that has been achieved this year by Council in creating new opportunities for our region, making Ararat Rural City an even better place to live, work, invest and visit.

Innovation, partnership, and community are underpinning our philosophy here at Ararat Rural City.

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On the first measure, we have changed the way we engage with our community, being clear, accountable and setting out a concise plan that measures our performance against the actions we take.

The second, has been the decisive actions we have taken as a Council to create a new era of prosperity for Ararat, by leveraging new opportunities and partnerships.

This has included working with government, industry, academia, and entrepreneurs to address the challenges that our community faces and make Ararat a hub of skills, technology, creativity and investment.

Over this past year, we have secured the cutting-edge research partnership with Federation University Australia that will reactivate higher education in Ararat, via creating the Ararat Jobs and Technology Precinct.

The partnership with Pacific Heat and Power and our local primary producers to build the Grampians Gas Bioenergy Project creates an opportunity to transform the straw and stubble we produce on our farms into energy. In doing so, we turn farm waste into renewables; diversify farm incomes, and supply stable cost-effective clean energy to industry.

We've partnered with the Victorian Government and developers to address housing shortages by investing in trunk infrastructure connections. This has unlocked development in the Ararat East Development Zone - a project that's been long talked about but now it's happening.

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Sport is the lifeblood of every town in Ararat Rural City. The Gordon Street Recreation Reserve Redevelopment project, co-designed with the community to create a home for AFLW, and Soccer, Cricket and Little Athletics, will be a game-changer for our community sporting clubs.

We want to activate smart city capabilities, bringing our region to the forefront of new digital innovation. The Ararat Free Public WiFi Network partnership with the Victorian Government and Telstra to deliver advanced connectivity in Ararat and Lake Bolac is a critical milestone in the transformation of our municipality.

Similarly, Ararat has won selection as a regional pilot for a Digital Twin Victoria project which will unlock the potential and efficiency of the agricultural sector.

We also secured funding from the Victorian Government to carry out a needs analysis of the historic Aradale site to unlock the heritage and planning complexity of this iconic site, to give it another life.

Our record investment in roads and community infrastructure has kept people in jobs and we've provided rate relief to restore fairness in our rating system with a 1.5% rate cut, resulting in a net zero per cent increase in rates over four years.

Im proud that over this past year, not only have we achieved the big projects mentioned above, but new small businesses have opened in Ararat.

Council's October 2021 Retail Occupancy Survey found that we have an occupancy rate of 97% with only five out of 153 shops in the Ararat CBD available for lease this is an incredible result.

While others seemed preoccupied with the impact of the global pandemic, we saw an opportunity quickly unfolding, driven by an accelerated shift of people coming to the regions.

These results make me extremely proud of what we have achieved together and I look forward to continue delivering for our community in 2022

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