THE Moyne Shire Council has a new mayor after Cr Ian Smith was elected to the role at Tuesday’s Council meeting, with outgoing mayor, Cr Foster elected deputy mayor.

Cr Smith thanked his fellow councillors for their support and paid tribute to Cr Foster - this is his second term as mayor having served for the year prior to Cr Foster.

“Cr Foster has done a fantastic job over the past 12 months, and I thank her for the extraordinary efforts she has made for the betterment of Moyne and I’m looking forward to working with her as deputy mayor,” he said.

“It was quite a surprise - but a couple of people asked me to stand and it’s good to have competition for these positions.

“This is my final year as councillor - we’ve got a few projects to be completed, so I’m going to give it my best.

“We’re very aware of the financial constraints - we are expecting a tightening in grants, but Moyne Shire is in a good position - we feel confident we are very well situated to ride it out with prudent budgeting.

“It’s going to be an exciting year - we have a huge program of works to get through including kicking off the Koroit Township Renewal, a new playground and skatepark for Port Fairy, a splashpad and playground in Macarthur and a significant program of road works.

“We also have a significant agenda and we’ll be continuing our Spring Street and Canberra advocacy to try and gain support for our projects and attention for the issues that matter most to our community - including the condition of state-controlled roads and critical funding for community infrastructure.

“I thank my fellow councillors for entrusting me to be their mayor and I look forward to working closely with each of them and with our community over the next year to make our communities even better places to live.”