Darren Wallace
A track record of serving the community for the past 30 years was the driver behind Darren Wallace seeking re-election to Baw Baw Shire.
Whether it be the CFA, school councils, the Community Bank or sporting clubs, the Trafalgar resident said he had always put the community first.
Mr Wallace was elected to the East Ward four years ago and believes a second term on council would place him in a position to advocate strongly for his community.
He said his slogan “putting community first” was at the forefront of all his decision making on council.
“I initially stood on a platform of a
new kinder, change rooms (Trafalgar soccer) and a static library for Trafalgar plus a fairer share of equality for rural and remote communities,” he said.
In the past term, a new kindergarten has been delivered for Trafalgar, the soccer pavilion/change rooms has received funding and Mr Wallace said a library remains on his agenda.
When first elected, Mr Wallace was chair of council’s Early Years Advisory Committee which he said was instrumental in turning around a dire short fall in kindergarten placements.
As a result, new early learning centres were delivered at Warragul and Trafalgar, Drouin doubled in size and funding has been secured for a new centre at Longwarry.
Mr Wallace said his work in asset management at Gippsland Water and as a qualified surveyor had given him the experience and skills to understand planning and roads issues.
“I am passionate about roads but that is also where my strength lies.
“My strong advocacy towards roads I believe has had a large impact in changing how we conduct road maintenance by shifting from reactive to proactive maintenance and the increase in budget and a new road maintenance contract.
Mr Wallace said council needed to focus its next four years on quality planning, good governance and financial sustainability.
He said Baw Baw was growing at a rate of three per cent but in a rate capped environment, funding could
not keep up with infrastructure demands.
He said council had to plan for shovel ready projects to take advantage of funding available in the Growing Suburbs Fund and post-COVID government stimulus packages.
“We need to get some of these big ticket items paid for with other people’s money.
“We have multi million dollar projects that need to be developed…over the next four years we have an opportunity to attract funds and ease the burden on ratepayers.
Mr Wallace said the past four years as a councillor had been rewarding and he was committed to representing he area in a professional, dedicated and enthusiastic manner.