By Violet Li
Cranbourne Rotary Club had an “informative” night with the City of Casey’s chief executive officer and Mayor.
The Rotary Club invited Casey Chief Executive Officer Glenn Patterson and Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen as guest speakers to their regular Tuesday night meeting on 6 May.
Mr Patterson and Mayor Cr Koomen shared with the members a snapshot of what the Council had been striving for, and answered a number of questions on roads, community infrastructure, and governance.
Mayor Cr Koomen shared that the new councillor group would focus on good governance and transparency, reconnecting with the community and residents, making Casey as a destination, jobs close to home, empowering community groups, volunteers, and sporting clubs, and improving local services and renewing community assets.
He also shared a list of the recent Labor Government’s Federal election commitments for Casey, including $10.6 million for the Women’s Centre of Excellence at Casey Fields, and a new Medicare Mental Health Centre in Cranbourne.
“We had a lot of attention in the election campaign in our community, and we did a mountain of work advocating to both sides of government to get kind of match commitments,” he said.
“What we’ve ended up with is a fantastic selection of projects that really do meet our priorities as a council that we’ve been advocating for.”
Club president Lee Moyle said the reception was very positive, as the two guests gave very “professional” answers.
“It was very informative… gave us a really good overview on the function of what councils do and the fact that there’s a separation between the council officers and workers and the councils,” he said.
“I think that the questions were good. Some of our members are asking very relevant questions.
“And there was a good description on how the maintenance happens and the difference between what’s the responsibility of the council and the responsibility of state governments, and other issues.”
