They encourage community participation, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.

Greater Shepparton Mayor Geoff Dobson said Greater Shepparton's Taste of Harmony morning tea is free for the community to attend.

"As well as the morning tea, there will be train rides, face painting and KidsTown clowns to entertain the children and guest speakers," Cr Dobson said.

"Harmony Day celebrates our diversity and as Shepparton is built on years of migration and our Aboriginal history I don't think there is better place to celebrate our diverse community than here in Shepparton.

"Council is only one of a number of organisations celebrating Harmony Day, so there are a few celebrations the community can join in.

"I'd also like to encourage businesses and other groups who haven't already organised a function to arrange their own event and celebrate their unique diverse community."

Greater Shepparton City Council is hosting the morning tea in conjunction with Uniting Care Cutting Edge, Family Relationship Centre and the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District Inc.

RSVPs are essential for catering purposes to Council's Community Strengthening Branch on communitydevlopment@shepparton.vic.gov.au or (03) 5832 9498.

Cultural Diversity Week is held from 14-21 March 2010. For more information visit www.multicultural.vic.gov.au.

Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March each year. For more information visit www.harmony.gov.au.

KidsTown Coordinator Steve Wilson said the Easter Egg-Straveganza Festival will be bigger than ever this year.

"There is going to be six huge Easter egg hunts over the three days, with 13,000 Easter eggs up for grabs," Mr Wilson said.

"The festival has lots of entertainment including an undercover area for craft activities, an outdoor beach volleyball court, a sideshow alley, as well as continuous roving entertainment.

"A major component of the festival will be the sideshow alley and the miniature railway train rides.

"Miniature railway enthusiasts are bringing their trains to KidsTown to provide rides to our visitors on the 560 metre landscaped miniature railway track.

"Even the Easter Bunny will be making an appearance each day during the hunts.

"All this in addition to SPC Ardmona KidsTown's other fantastic attractions."

Easter Egg Hunt times:

• 5 years and under will begin at 11.00am on each day.
• 6 years and over will begin at 11.30am on each day.

(Please arrive 15 mins prior to commencement time for registration.)

Entry into the Easter Egg-Stravaganza Festival is by a gold coin donation. All rides in the Sideshow Alley area incur an extra cost per ride.

A $2 registration fee is required for the Easter Egg Hunt.

For more information, please contact KidsTown on 5831 4213 or checkout www.kidstown.org.au.

Greater Shepparton City Council general Manager Corporate Services Dwight Graham said the infringements concerned to Council are those related to people who did not vote at the local government elections last year, outstanding Local Law infringements and unpaid parking fines.

"The waiver applies to fees and charges applied to the original infringement, for example court costs and late fees," Mr Graham said.

"It does not waive the original infringement costs.

"There is only about a week left until the fine waiver scheme ends, so I encourage those people who have either forgotten about old fines, or have been avoiding paying do so quickly."

Greater Shepparton City Council is one of more than 20 councils across Victoria participating in this fine waiver scheme. The waiver also applies to all State Government-issued fines including the Department of Transport, Victoria Police, and Department of Primary Industries.

Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls who launched the scheme in Melbourne last month said the Sheriff's Office would launch a planned enforcement crackdown once the fee waiver ended in a firm but fair approach to fine defaulters.

"The Sheriff's Office will be targeting people with outstanding warrants in a series of operations across the state once the fee waiver is finished," he said.

"This gives fine defaulters an ever greater opportunity to act on their fines instead of simply hoping they will go away," Mr Hulls said.

"The public's response to the fee waiver has been very promising so far, with a significant number of people taking up the opportunity to deal with their fines."

People who have difficulty paying their fines have the option of entering into payment plans and this option is still available throughout the fee waiver period by calling 1300 221 249.

Further information about paying fines is available at www.fines.vic.gov.au.

It will be the new home of the North Shepparton Community Learning Centre, maternal and child health services, a training community café, meeting rooms and additional locally-based services that will benefit the community.

Greater Shepparton City Council Community Development Manager Peter Bourke said the Hub represents the realisation of a lot of hard work from Council, service providers and residents.

"I'm sure the community of north Shepparton will be very excited to see the Hub completed and open to service their local community," Mr Bourke said.

"Construction began in May 2009, with completion expected in early 2010, and with only a few small delays we are now close to finalising the project.

"We will be officially opening the centre in June to give community groups time to settle into their new surrounds.

"All members of the community are invited to attend the opening."

The construction of the North Shepparton Community Hub has been managed by Council and works completed by Moretto Building.

The design of the hub has incorporated three portable buildings donated after the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

The $3 million Hub was made possible thanks to funding by the Australian Government, Victorian Government and Greater Shepparton City Council. Greater Shepparton City Council is contributing $1 million towards the project.

Greater Shepparton City Council, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Regional Development Victoria, Department of Human Services, Department of Planning and Community Development and VicUrban provided financial support to build the new hub.

Tea and coffee will be available at the community meeting.

Council's Municipal Recovery Manager Simon Rose said the meeting will be held to give residents the opportunity to find out the latest information on the storm recovery.

"We hope by having all the agencies together in the one room, it will give affected residents the correct information they need to speed up their recovery," Mr Rose said.

"There is a lot of information, support and services for people to access and this help will clarify who is doing what.

"In a large clean up like this, there are many different agencies involved, all who provide different services and we believe the easiest way and the most preferred of our residents is to have the option to speak to people face to face.

Mr Rose also reminded residents that Council is operating a phone Emergency Case Management Service for anyone who may be frail, aged or have a disability that needs emergency support.

"People needing emergency support can call Council's Emergency Case Management Service on (03) 5832 9785.

"This service specifically supports vulnerable people who need assistance to source essential food and medical supplies.

"This is a very short-term assistance program only, implemented to assist those who are most vulnerable in our community to get back on their feet.

"Any of our vulnerable residents who are affected by the storm and require assistance to recover should contact Council and state that they may need some case management assistance."

- Released 9 March

"Council is very proud of the rapid response from its maintenance works teams who worked tirelessly into Sunday night, in unfavourable conditions, to make roads and parks safe for residents," Mr Sidebottom said.

"Trees had brought down powerlines in Raftery Road, St Georges Road and Archer Street, resulting in power outages to many households.

"Initial reports of trees down in rural areas of Zeerust, Toolamba and Murchison North, resulted in Council having to close several roads for driver safety.

"Localised flooding occurred where drainage systems were overloaded by the intense rainfall, which far exceeded the drainage design parameters. All of Council's pumping systems and flood retardation systems performed as expected and residents were patient as the extreme flooding took several hours to subside.

"Nevertheless, the worst flooding was in the Lenne Street and Rodney Park Drive areas of Mooroopna, where the water was almost half a metre deep.

"The roof at the Shepparton Velodrome was completely blown off and will be inspected by Council's Building Surveyor for safety before any repairs will be able to be effected.

"The Shepparton Aerodrome lost power and emergency measures were enacted to install temporary lighting to assist any planes landing.

"Due to the influx of storm damage related green waste, it is expected that Council will accept green waste free of charge at Council's Transfer Stations until later in the week to allow residents time to clean up."

For opening hours at Council's Transfer Stations, please visit www.greatershepparton.com.au/residents/waste/transferstations/.

Council's Emergency Recovery Manager Simon Rose said Council's Emergency Case Management Service would be operating from 8.30am Tuesday 9 March, for anyone needing emergency support.

"This service will specifically support vulnerable people like the aged, people with disability or mobility issues, who need assistance to source essential food and medical supplies," Mr Rose said.

Residents can call Council's Emergency Case Management Service on (03) 5832 9785.

"Council's Emergency response team doorknocked around 100 homes in Raftery Road and Mitchell Road who experienced long power outage delays on Monday 8 March, to ensure any vulnerable people received emergency support," Mr Rose said.

The Patricia Smith Children's Centre has also suffered severe damage and will be closed on Tuesday 9 March 2010.

"We anticipate that this is the only Council childcare centre to be closed at this stage. Most other centres will open as usual, but outside play may be limited at some centres for a couple of days due to storm damage," Mr Rose said.

For any general enquiries related to storm damage contact Council on (03) 5832 9700. For power issues contact Powercor and for emergency assistance contact the SES.

Business owners need to be aware of the implications of these days, including restricted trading days for Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day.

For more information contact the Greater Shepparton Business Centre on 5832 1100 or visit the Business Victoria website www.business.vic.gov.au.

Greater Shepparton Business Centre Coordinator Geoff Hay said the ‘Starting Your Business' workshop gives you the direction to ensure you avoid the mistakes many new businesses make.

"Completing this workshop will give participants the knowledge and confidence to evaluate the various options and decide whether to start from scratch, buy into an existing business or buy a franchise," Mr Hay said.

"Choosing the most suitable arrangement for your business, such as sole trader or partnership, is crucial and this workshop will also cover things like how to register a business or company name and what steps you need to take to ensure you protect that name."

"The seminar will be facilitated by John Vine who has been involved in the small business and franchise industry for over twenty years, of which the last seven have been focused on the small business area as a consultant specialising in mentoring small to medium business operators.

"This workshop is suitable for anyone contemplating a new business idea and interested in growing that idea into their very own small business."

The workshop is on Wednesday 17 March from 6.00pm to 9.30pm at the Greater Shepparton Business Centre, 70 New Dookie Road Shepparton.

To book your place in the ‘Starting Your Business' workshop please call the Greater Shepparton Business Centre on (03) 5832 1100. The workshop costs $30. Bookings are essential.

Greater Shepparton Business Centre is funded and operated by Greater Shepparton City Council.

"The plan will address both community safety and crime prevention, involving issues relating to both actual crime and perceived crime within the community," Cr Dobson said.

"Once we have developed the plan, we will identify a set of practical actions and work with community agencies to put them in place.

"We are now looking for people who want to have their say on what should be included in the safety plan to take part in a focus group."

Focus groups will be held at the Greater Shepparton Business Centre on Tuesday 9 March at 6.30pm - 7.30pm or Wednesday 10 March in the Goulburn Room, Greater Shepparton City Council office between 11.00am - 12noon.

For more information on the safety plan, contact Allison Heller at Urbis on
(02) 8233 9951.

To attend, please RSVP to Lee Gardiner at Greater Shepparton City Council on (03) 5832 9700.

- Released 4 March

"One of the recommendations from the positive ageing strategy was to develop a committee who could advise council on issues relating to our ageing population," Mr Rose said.

"The committee could provide advice in areas such as planning, parking, recreation and leisure facilities, community support and services and arts and culture.

"We hope to form a committee of about 10 people from a range of backgrounds and ages.

"Once the committee has been formed, the members will determine how often and where to meet.

"If needed, Council will provide transportation to increase opportunities for individuals to participate in the committee.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for older people to actively contribute to achieving positive changes in our community."

Any resident interested in participating is strongly encouraged to contact the Positive Ageing Strategy Coordinator Teri Bennet-Meyer on 5832 9785.

- Released 1 March