The face-to-face meeting, more than a year in the making, was staged in the hope of “speeding up’’ the process of putting the town back on the Campaspe Shire map.
Kyabram Tomorrow has worked closely with shire officers through the development of the Place-Based Plan and, more recently, the planning of its flagship festival — Kyabram Tastes and Tunes.
There are fears, however, that a “slowdown’’ in activity has meant implementing that plan could frustrate the organisation’s momentum.
Kyabram Tomorrow chair Tanya Chiswell said the meeting had allowed the group to make the councillors aware of its “wish list’’ and ”keep the ball rolling’’.
“There are things that have taken longer than we would have liked. Individually we have spoken to the councillors, but they have never been in the same room at the same time with us,” Ms Chiswell said.
Kyabram Deakin Ward councillors Daniel Mackrell, John Zobec and Deputy Mayor Colleen Gates were all in attendance, adding to the presence of meeting regulars — shire officers Sam Campi and Jim Gow.
Mr Campi, community development manager at the shire, and Mr Gow (the community support officer responsible for Kyabram Stanhope and Girgarre) attend the monthly meetings of the forward-thinking organisation.
Ms Chiswell said the goal was to “get some answers’’ on things like the future of Kyabram pool, the implementation of the Place-Based Plan and the involvement of Kyabram Tomorrow in the Township Facility Plan process.
She said the organisation was keen to find out how decisions would be made on community assets and where the funds from any sales would be directed.
“We really do not know much about the facility plan or the Community Panel, which will decide the future of Kyabram-owned buildings and the pool,” she said.
She said Kyabram Tomorrow’s membership had used the meeting to update councillors about the goals of the group.
“We usually have Sam Campi and Jim Gow at our meetings, but we have invited the councillors to speak about the pool and the potential sale assets of Kyabram,” Ms Chiswell said.
Campaspe Shire has agreed to re-inject funds from the sale of community owned buildings, and land, back into projects identified by the town as priorities.
Cr Mackrell said he had attended meetings via zoom with the group, but there had always been “roadblocks” that prevented the three local government authority representatives being at a meeting at the same time.
He said he was aware of the frustration Kyabram Tomorrow had, in some instances, with “red tape’’, but felt the shire had recently acted on removing some of those barriers.
He could not shed any light on the composition or timeline of the Township Facility Plan committee, or the Community Panel, suggesting “tweaks’’ were still being made to the final product.
“We were at the meeting as observers, to listen and support. If there is anything we can act on, we will,” he said.
