www.awnw.com.au
Issue #210 – Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Be fire ready The east coast of Australia is already experiencing unexpectedly high temperatures, early bushfires and gathering storm cells. TURN TO PAGE 15 AND LEARN HOW TO GET ‘FIRE READY.’
Our new mayor By KRYSTEN MANUEL IT’S BUSINESS as usual according to Wodonga’s new mayor, councillor Rodney Wangman. On Monday evening, Cr Wangman defeated outgoing mayor Mark Byatt with four votes to three. Cr Wangman was nominated by Cr Mike Fraser, and his nomination seconded by Cr Anna Speedie. “Last night Cr Fraser made particular mention of both the strengths of Mark and myself – we are different people,” Cr Wangman said. “I’ve respectfully acknowledged that Mark has been a mayor for five years and served this community extremely well. He gave up a lot of his time and I know what that’s like, having been there before. Family, friends, have to give way to the greater good of the community. “He won’t be lost. Just because he’s not mayor, his experience, his network, his history on many of the projects, small and large, will be a contribution at our table.” City of Wodonga CEO Patience Harrington said she was looking forward to the strong leadership Cr Wangman offered. “It will be a great privilege to work with Councillor Wangman as mayor,” she said. “I enjoy very strong and very clear leadership from my council.” Despite the change in leadership, Cr Wangman said he would be following plans already set, including the development of the CBD, supporting employment at Logic Centre and working towards the recreation plan for Baranduda Fields. “There won’t be any changes all of a sudden because I’m mayor, in fact it will be business as usual,” he said. “Council will continue to work as a collective group on these strategies and
City of Wodonga CEO Patience Harrington welcomes Wodonga’s new mayor – Cr Rodney Wangman. the hopes and aspirations we have going forward. The immediate things that are still front and centre for us are the redevelopment of the CBD - and that’s hopefully attached with the Manns redevelopment, in addition to that there’s the Elgin Boulevard construction and that will be occurring in the near future, Havelock Street is well underway. “On top of that we will continue to support the employment incubator at Logic which we see as a very key part of the infrastructure of Wodonga.
“Last night council announced the release of the second stage report of Baranduda Fields which is a largescale, 100-hectare site and looks 2030 years in advance. That in unison with the recreation plan that comes out in early 2014 will be the bedrock of where we go in terms of sport and recreation in this city well into the future.” While some concerns surround the development of Baranduda Fields, specifically the future of clubs like the Wodonga Bulldogs, Cr Wangman said
people needed to recognise the fastgrowing needs of Wodonga. “We will invite the local clubs to be part of the journey,” he said. “Some will seek to want to move there, some will be created as a consequence of Baranduda as it already exists and others will naturally have concerns about where the money gets spread across Wodonga. “Wodonga is growing rapidly and it does already need more sport and more recreational facilities.”
Cr Wangman also took the opportunity to ‘put to bed’ rumours that he and Cr Byatt had made a deal to put Cr Wangman at the helm. “There were two nominations and an election of a mayor last night so for those who might suggest it was a deal and everything, I think that’s just put to bed,” he said. “There was no deal – I said it at the time, Cr Byatt said it at the time, it was self-evident last night.”
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