At Manningham, we are passionate about community engagement, so we were delighted to authorise our new community engagement policy at our recent Council meeting.

This policy provides guidance to our new community panel, which will come together this month. The panel will develop recommendations that will help shape our community’s future and guide our strategic documents: Council Plan, Community Vision, Asset Plan and Financial Plan.  The panel will present their recommendations to the Council next month.

Thanks to everyone who registered your interest to join this panel.  Close to 400 people registered, and we are very pleased that so many in our community are keen to get involved with the Council.  While we can’t have everyone on the panel, we are confident that the final panel of over 40 people will be representative of our diverse community. They will play a crucial role in shaping recommendations for our strategic documents.

For those who missed out, thanks for your interest and we will be in touch about other ways you can participate in Council business.

We are also well underway with preparing our budget and four-year plan, and on track to announce our new 2021/22 budget in July. It’s important to note that the new Local Government Act has changed how you can make submissions.  I will provide more detail about this in the next digital version of Manningham Matters.

At the last Council meeting we endorsed a range of additional COVID relief funding measures. These include our new business grant program and rent relief for some sporting clubs based on their financial hardship.   If your business would like to apply for a grant, details are available on our website

Finally, just a reminder that Council meetings are live streamed, and if you can’t join us on the night, they are available for you to watch later online. That’s where you can hear some more of the discussions around these decisions.

Stay safe and I look forward to sharing more with you next time.

Cr Andrew Conlon

MAYOR