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CEO’s message
ACTING CEO’S MESSAGE
It’s my great privilege to present the annual report for Wodonga Council 2021-2022 as the Acting Chief Executive Officer. First, I want to thank outgoing CEO Mark Dixon for his work and dedication to our organisation and our city during his time in the role and welcome Matthew Hyde. As I reflect on the past 12 months, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic continued with further lockdowns and it is only now, that we return to a new normal. However, we’ve continued to see our city grow with housing developments continuing to move ahead, new businesses opening in the city centre and interest in land at Logic with several significant land sales in the past 12 months. In July, Opal Group, one of the country’s largest paper and fibre packaging manufacturers, announced its plans to build a $140 million facility at Logic while SCT further cemented it future at Logic with the purchase of land near its intermodal hub. The council made the decision to purchase the site of its depot in Kendall St. The purchase not only secures the site for council use but also represents long-term operational savings. As an organisation, we endorsed our Gender Equality Action Plan and had it approved by the Gender Equality Commission as well as celebrating the diversity of our staff and community on International Women’s Day, IDAHOBIT Day, Harmony Day and through Reconciliation Week. We continued to have positive results in the annual community satisfaction survey with an overall performance index score of 68 was in line with the 2021 result, having increased by one index point in the past year, and continues a threeyear trend of improvement. The survey showed art centres and libraries, customer service, appearance of public areas, waste management and recreational facilities continue to be council’s top-performing areas. As always, there is much we can take away from these results and where we will continue to improve. We have tried new ways of engaging with our community this year, undertaking a comprehensive two-stage consultation to inform our budget and redesigning our community forums. We launched a new event – CoCreate – and look forward to events and gatherings continuing to build as restrictions ease with plenty of interest in our city for major events. To close, I want to acknowledge our community, our councillors and all our staff for continuing their service to our city and community and upholding our mission “to strengthen our community in all that we do”.
