LODDON Shire will drill down on core values, responsible budgets and continued economic and population growth.
Terrick Ward councillor Dan Straub made the commitment after being elected mayor at yesterday’s special council meeting.
It will be Cr Straub’s third term as the shire’s leader since being elected to council in 2020.
“I am looking forward to leading a united group of councillors, working together and striving to continue growth in our communities,” Cr Straub told the Loddon Herald after receiving the unanimous vote of colleagues.
“We all recognise the key drivers of the shire and the importance of agriculture along with the important role private enterprise plays in the economy of our region.
“We have a vibrant and diverse agriculture sector and it is growing in value.”
Cr Straub said an immediate priority would be developing council’s next four-year plan and advocating for government funding that boosted the sustainability of councils.
He said council would advocate for proper funding from governments for core areas.
“There is a federal election due within six months and we will take our case to all sides of politics and the need to adequately fund our most important assets - our roads and buildings,” he said.
 Cr Straub served as Loddon’s mayor in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 and was a key witness from northern Victoria at the Victorian Parliament’s inquiry into the 2022 floods.
He completed the LEAD Loddon Murray leadership program this year.
Cr Straub said he believed the program, had helped develop skills that could further benefit him in the roles of councillor and mayor. “We all have our core values and one important thing I have learnt through the program is that these values are shared and communicated through everything we do,” Cr Straub said.
“Our new council is equally committed to being strong on core values and I thank all councillors for electing me to lead them in a year that we all know will have challenges.”
Cr Straub said keeping the budget in check would be high among core values along with continuation of policies for small towns in the shire and delivering the recreational outdoor space and aquatic strategy.
The ROSA document was received by council earlier this year and looked at the level of facilities provided in each Loddon community.
The shire has nine major and 11 minor recreation reserves, five swimming pools, one swimming hole and more than 110 public open spaces.
“The high cost of swimming pools was placing considerable pressure on council’s capacity to fund them amongst other competing community and infrastructure needs.,” according to the report.