Murray River Council is leading the way in community initiatives, and Local Government NSW agrees.
Representatives of the council returned home from LGNSW’s annual Local Government Week Awards ceremony late last week with three commendations.
MRC won the Innovation in Special Events award for Moama Lights 2021, and the Reporting to Your Community award for its cemetery digitisation project.
The council was also highly commended in the Excellence in Communication category for its advocacy efforts, particularly the ‘Turn the border green’ campaign.
Mayor, Cr Chris Bilkey said it’s a great achievement for the council to be so well regarded in the industry.
“The awards are about recognising some of the most progressive councils in New South Wales, so we are absolutely thrilled to take home not one, but three awards,” he siad.
“We have been making continual improvements over the last 18 months, to both our services and the initiatives we deliver, so the awards nod is just another acknowledgement that we are not only on the right track, but leading the way.
“It takes a team effort, a great culture, and a can-do attitude to achieve these things, so we are very proud of the whole council team on this achievement.”
The awards, which were staged at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney last Thursday, celebrate councils who demonstrate excellence across a range of categories such as arts and culture, events, communications and planning.
The awards are managed by Local Government NSW and judged by leading experts in the communications field.
Moama Lights 2021 was an immersive sound and light trail showcasing local stories, featuring light installations and projections including theatrical fog, strobe and cutting edge moving light technology.
Council staff worked on bringing about the event over a period of six months.
It offered a new experience for locals and visitors, whilst bringing some much-needed economic activity to the area.
The inaugural event saw over 15,000 tickets registered, with visitation from all states and territories across Australia.
Through a post-event survey that captured overnight stays, dining and shopping, it is estimated that the economic impact of Moama Lights 2021 on the Echuca-Moama region was more than $7,882,635.
The 2022 event is currently in its second week of running, with over 16,000 tickets already sold.
Council’s cemetery digitisation project was launched earlier this year, and is a new digital platform for the management of cemetery data.
The project saw the implementation of digital cemetery records for all six operational cemeteries including Barham, Mathoura Lawn, Mathoura Pioneer, Moama, Moulamein and Tooleybuc.
This includes drone aerial surveying to create high resolution images, along with ground surveying to capture GPS coordinates and information relating to each known grave.
The ‘Turn the border green’ campaign centred around COVID-19 and the impact early border closures had on the district community and economy.
In July 2021 – during another round of local border closures - Council led a border advocacy campaign focussed on changing the border to a ‘green zone’ and working with governments to develop sustainable, longer-term solutions for border communities.
The campaign targeted both the NSW and Victorian governments, using local media, advertising and working directly with the governments.