The Council took out the prestigious Creative Communities Award, which recognises excellence in bringing together communities through art and cultural creative projects.

Bland Shire Council’s General Manager Ray Smith was “totally elated” to be announced the winner ahead of eight Councils.

“Every Council we were up against had a population set of 100,000, and here we are sitting there with not quite 6000,” Mr Smith said.

“It is great recognition of the creative and innovative skills of our staff, but it was also recognition of the support from Council - the elected representatives, and the community, particularly the Weethalle community who got right behind this project.”

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With many successes under their belt since the completion of the project, being recognised with a Local Government Excellence Award is the “icing on the cake.”

“The success of the project and the fact that Australia post have now issued a stamp with the silos on it, and then to top it off with a local government excellence award.”

The award was announced on June 7 at a NSW Local Government Awards dinner attended by over 500 local government professionals.

These awards recognised and showcased the pinnacle of excellence in the local government sector in NSW and significant achievements by NSW councils over the past year as well as the outstanding professional development achievements of the association’s members.

“Recognising the staff especially - if my staff come up with a good idea I let them run with it, and if it works, it’s great, but they have that opportunity to use their creative skills,” Mr Smith said.

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