AT least two joint tickets will contest the Yarran Ward at the coming Gannawarra Shire Council elections.
Five candidates have now declared their intention to seek two vacancies in the ward, which is centred on Cohuna.
Current councillor and former mayor, Neville Goulding has announced he will recontest the ward alongside Cohuna resident Robert Cooper.
The announcement follows news last week that Andrew Gibbs and Sonia Wright would contest the seat.
Current mayor, Cr Lorraine Learmonth has declared that she will also seek re-election.
Cr Goulding has held office since he was elected to council in 2003, being unopposed in 2005 and earning 58 per cent of first preference votes in 2008 and 41 per cent in 2012.
He caused a stir last year when he withdrew from the mayoral race without any explanation after previously saying he would seek another term as civic leader and instead backed Cr Learmonth for the position.
The 69-year-old dairy farmer milks 500 cows with his brother and nephew at their property east of Cohuna.
Mr Cooper retired to Cohuna with his wife four years ago after spending his working life in Melbourne and Geelong.
He spent 14 years working for Newsprint Distribution Services, which delivered magazines and newspapers across south-east Australia.
Later he worked for 18 years at Godfrey Hirst Carpets as the yarn controller, before retiring from Geelong to Cohuna as a 60-year-old.
He volunteers several days a week at the Cohuna Golf Club, he is a member of the Returned and Services League sub-branch and he is involved with district cricket as an umpire.
Mr Goulding said he and Mr Cooper would be a passionate and hard-working team.
“I’ve still got the energy and the interest and there are still projects I’m working on that I would like to see to fruition, particularly in the tourism area,” he said.
“We need to get tourism up and going through the Gunbower Forest, because that’s a natural asset we don’t utilise as well as we’d like,” he said.
Mr Cooper said more needed to be done to get passing traffic to stop and spend time in the shire.
“We’ve got so many natural assets in this area that we need to promote to make sure our towns don’t miss out on tourism trade,” he said.
Cr Goulding said attracting intensive agriculture to the shire would be a continued focus.
“I probably meet somebody once a month looking to invest in intensive agriculture like poultry and piggeries so we need to facilitate that as much as possible,” he said.
Cr Goulding said his time as a councillor had been fruitful, overseeing developments like the Gateway to Gannawarra Visitor Centre, the Koondrook Wharf and Recreational Vehicle site at Leitchville.
“I will continue to provide strong and successful local leadership; no crazy promises, just plain hard work and strong representation to get as much as I can for our community,” he said.
“Bob’s references from golf and cricket are very good, so hopefully people will get the feel that he’s a guy who puts in and doesn’t just sit back and complain.”
Mr Cooper said that he is already well known among local golfers and he planned to be as visible as possible in the weeks leading up to the election.
“It’s not about me; I’m here to help the people in my community as much as possible,” he said.
