From the Desk of the CEO: February 2026

Published on 26 March 2026

Hi Everyone,

Wherever I have been in my past lives, I have always made it a habit to provide an update to the community on some of the matters that we are dealing with on the operational side of the Council.

Under our Local Government legislation, it clearly defines the roles of the councillors and the staff and essentially says that Council looks after the “big” picture by setting the vision and enforcing the governance, and the CEO looks after the day-to-day operations.

It is my role to ensure that what Council requires to be done for the community actually happens, and that it happens in a way that is legal, open, transparent and is applied equally across the community.

I have now been here for 6 months and have seen that Hope Vale is a well-supported, well-managed town that is financially secure and has the potential to grow into a thriving community that provides opportunity for everyone who lives here.

We all have a part to play in that, and Council will openly support anyone who wants a go at growing themselves, their family and their future; but we won’t do it for you.

Our current councillors want to see more employment of local people, so we called for EOIs from the community from anyone seeking a job. We had a great response, and it is still going. If you haven’t heard from us, don’t panic, we will get to you. At this stage, we are growing the organisation and need to define the new positions. When we have done that, we go through the EOIs to see who has the best qualifications to fill the job and then we conduct interviews.

We are still looking for people to help fill available roles in our Civil Works crew as well as in our Parks and Gardens crew. Don’t panic if you don’t think you have the skills, come and talk to us and we can train you to develop those skills.

Council has also approved the purchase of Cemetery Management software. This software will enable us to create a register of graves, identify vacant allotments and will also allow families to place history of the deceased on the record. This software will then be linked to our website where people will be able to access the graves of family members and find out details of family who have passed. Don’t be surprised if you see people around the cemetery, taking measurements and using survey equipment so we can create the record of what exists now and then identify spaces into the future.

Council has requested that we implement regular and random drug and alcohol testing and whilst everyone has an opinion on this, I do not make any apologies about ensuring that all Council workers and contractors come to work in a safe environment and can go home to their families at the end of every day. These tests will continue into the future, and anyone who tries to avoid them will be requested to provide a clear certificate before they return to work, because we insist that everyone must be tested at the same time. When those tests are held is the random part of it.

The good news, though, is that Council has now commenced its budget development for next year. This will be undertaken over the next 3.5 months and will involve discussions with staff and councillors around what our immediate needs are. When I look around Hope Vale, a lot of our buildings are starting to get run down, so we need to undertake a long-term programme of rejuvenating our public buildings by renewing equipment, providing a coat of paint, and fixing obvious things like air conditioners, plumbing, and making structural repairs.

Our Council fleet of cars needs to undertake a renewal programme. Some of our cars are unroadworthy and others have over 300, 000 kilometres on them. To get the best return for Council we need to start a replacement programme that is going to provide a more functional fleet of vehicles as well as reduce our maintenance costs and contribute to the safety of our employees.

We are also planning some major capital works programmes that will see the development of land for housing, the construction of additional accommodation units as a result of working closely with the Department of Housing, the upgrade of the Everlina Bridge (design is being undertaken now). The upgrade to the multi-purpose centre will commence shortly and the development of our Digital Centre is also in the pipeline.

Back to the budget, if you believe you have some good ideas to share on what Hope Vale needs, please feel free to speak with your councillors and let them know, and they can add it to what I think will be a very long list.

I have enjoyed my time here in Hope Vale and I was very thankful for the opportunity that Mayor Gibson and the Councillors have provided me. Thank you all for having me in your community and accepting me as you have done. Council have now offered me a three-year contract, and I certainly look forward to building the independence of Hope Vale and making sure that you all have a community you can be proud of, and one that truly does take dreaming and turn it into a reality.

Lew Rojahn

CEO