Rural City of Wangaratta


The Rural City of Wangaratta is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 29,087. It includes the towns of Cheshunt, Eldorado, Everton, Glenrowan, Greta, Greta West, Milawa, Moyhu, Oxley, Tarrawingee, Wangaratta and Whitfield. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Wangaratta, Shire of Wangaratta, Shire of Oxley, and parts of the United Shire of Beechworth, Shire of Benalla and Shire of Yarrawonga. When formed the municipality was originally called the Shire of Milawa, but a few months later, was renamed to its current name.
The Rural City is governed and administered by the Wangaratta Rural City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Wangaratta. The Rural City is named after the main urban settlement located in the north of the LGA, that is Wangaratta, which is also the LGA's most populous urban centre with a population of around 18,500.

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of three wards and seven councillors, with four councillors elected to the City Ward and one councillor per remaining ward elected to represent each of the other wards. As of October 2016, the residents of the municipality had elected 7 new councillors:

History

The election of Councillors in 2016 followed a three year period where the Council was governed by Administrators. Administrators had been appointed by an Act of Parliament, following the dismissal of the Councillors elected at the 2012 general election. A panel of three administrators, by an Act of Parliament, was appointed to oversee the council until the 2016 municipal elections.

Administration and governance

The councillors meet in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Wangaratta Government Centre, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its administrative centre in Wangaratta.