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10 MARCH, 2021
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Celebrating Riverdale A free community event at the Riverdale Village Town Centre will officially welcome traders to the centre. Celebrate Riverdale day will include family-friendly activities and games, a DJ, live performances, roaming acts, food giveaways and on-the-spot prizes. Riverdale Village Town Centre shopping centre manager Simone Talarico, said: “We are thrilled that there is finally an opportunity to officially welcome the retailers to the community and celebrate the amazing support they have from local residents.” Wyndham mayor Adele Hegedich said it would be “heart-warming to see the community coming together after some difficult months. “Council is committed to supporting businesses to help them recover from COVID-19, so events like this are a welcome sight,” Cr Hegedich said. Celebrate Riverdale will run from noon-3pm on Sunday at the Riverdale Village, 200 Hummingbird Boulevard, Tarneit. All participants will be required to visit the sign-in desk, register and claim a wristband to access the activities. Details: https://bit.ly/3q9iC0A
RIVERDALE QUALITY MEATS & PRODUCE OWNER KAZI ISLAM
Werribee tip sell-off plan By Alesha Capone A Wyndham councillor has suggested the council offload the Werribee tip if it can’t create a separate subsidiary to manage the site before the end of the year. Cr Josh Gilligan said the council had no cash reserves to upgrade the tip to attract private sector investment or transform it into a more environmentally-friendly operation. “If we fail to commence the process of structurally separating the RDF (Refuse Disposal Facility) by the end of this year, it is time to consider simply selling out of the facility altogether,” he said. 12486058-CG11-21
“Our failure to innovate and adapt in the face of seismic government intervention in the waste and recycling sector will see our city all the poorer in the years and decades to come.” Cr Gilligan made the comment at a public meeting last week during debate of the council’s financial report for July to December 2020. According to the report, the council saved $2.9 million on spending at the Wests Road tip from July to December because of a lower Environment Protection Authority levy and reduced spending on operations and materials during the coronavirus pandemic. The council can expect to save about $4.2 million in expenses related to the tip by the
year’s end, the report stated. Cr Gilligan said that creating a commercial subsidiary with its own board to manage the tip, as the council has done for Wyndham’s leisure centres, would lead to “bigger and better environmental outcomes and financial dividends to ratepayers”. The council’s strategic plan aims to transform the tip site into a precinct focused on resource recovery, with complementary businesses located nearby and “green jobs” for residents. The cost of the project is estimated between $20 million to $100 million, according to the Wyndham Refuse Disposal Facility (RDF) Strategic Plan 2019-2025.
Council’s director of city operations Stephen Thorpe said that when preparing the plan, the council “considered in detail its continuing involvement in the Refuse Disposal Facility”. “There is a goal to improve governance by investigating the establishment of a Local Government Business Enterprise, similar to the model for Western Leisure Services,” Mr Thorpe said. “This would provide a skills-based board to oversight the development and operation of the RDF as it transitions away from direct landfill to a more resource recovery and diversion model.” Wyndham council has owned and operated the tip since the 1970s.