ACTIVITIES IN THE PARK UPDATE

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your ongoing contribution and commitment of Greater Shepparton's Activities in the Park program.

Whilst in its eleventh year, the last three years have been particularly challenging and to maintain the program has taken the absolute commitment of both our valued facilitators and staff for which I say a personal and sincere well done and thank you.

You are no doubt aware that in recent weeks, Belinda Conna, who has been with Council and the AitP program since conception has taken up an exciting new role with the Victorian Government in Public Health. I can also confirm that Carmen Nicholson who has also been with the program since its inception and Kellie Smith have confirmed their intention to finish up with Council in coming weeks, again for exciting new opportunities for which we wish them well.

This leaves an obvious gap in our ability to maintain the AitP program in its current form in coming months. Rest assured, recruitment for these important roles is underway and in coming months, I look forward to introducing you to new members of the Healthy Communities and Activities in the Park team as well as a plan for the program into the future.

While this recruitment and subsequent training of new staff takes place, we do have other department team members taking on some but not all roles that are required to run the program. With this in mind, we have taken the decision to modify the program in coming months to allow for this transition and at the same time maintain the program so it can scale back up once staffing allows.

Unfortunately, in the short term, we simply don't have the capacity to do the work necessary in liaising with our valued external facilitators and organisations that are part of our program. It's this planning and coordination work that whilst valuable does take considerable time to ensure success and we simply can't sustain that at this time.

We will, however, maintain the program in a reduced capacity and aim to run a number of Activities over coming months using Councils internal teams who have the capacity to coordinate some activities as they have previously. Our limited resources as described will focus on the promotion of those activities through our website, App and socials etc. While this means the traditional March and April program will look different, we remain committed to the year-round delivery of the Activities in the Park program with the program varying according to the season as has always been the case. Once recruitment and training has taken place, we look forward to coming back to you all with details of the future of the program.

I can only apologise for any inconvenience this causes in the short term but trust that you understand the unique situation we find ourselves in. Rest assured, we are well advanced in the steps necessary to get back on track later in the year and ask for your patience in the meantime.

In closing, I'd like to thank you again for your commitment to the Activities in the Park program and on behalf of you all, wish the little team that has achieved great things over the years, namely Belinda, Carmen, Kellie and even Jenna who left us in recent years all the very best in their future endeavours.

- David Booth