Inaugural ‘Let's Chat Ballarat’ Community Expo hailed a success

The City of Ballarat held its first Let’s Chat Ballarat Community Expo on 20 and 21 March with about 500 community members through the doors over the two days.

The Expo was held at Civic Hall and gave community members a unique opportunity to engage in face-to-face conversations with Councillors and staff about local services and priorities.

The expo was made up of 32 stalls representing business units across the City of Ballarat and was designed to enable direct engagement with the community.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Tracey Hargreaves said the Let’s Chat Ballarat Expo had proven to be a successful engagement opportunity for residents, ratepayers, the City of Ballarat and its Councillors.

“I am thrilled with the way the community and City of Ballarat staff came together at the Expo. It was wonderful to see so many positive, constructive conversations being held across the 32 stands.”

“We look forward to building on the Expo’s initial success as it becomes an annual fixture in Ballarat’s events calendar.”

The Let’s Chat Ballarat Community Expo spearheads a commitment to community engagement in the new Council term.

The next phase of enhanced engagement kicks off later this month with a Let’s Chat Councillor Roadshow. This involves Councillors hosting drop-in sessions within their wards over the coming six months. The sessions will enable ratepayers and residents to give ward-specific feedback to their Councillor.

The roadshow kicks off on Monday 31 March with Cr Ben Taylor hosting a Let’s Chat Buninyong session at the Buninyong Town Hall, followed by Cr Jim Rinaldi on Thursday 3 April at the Invermay Recreation Reserve.

The full preliminary schedule is as follows: 

Visit the Let’s Chat Councillor Roadshow page to see additional information and schedule updates. The sessions will be promoted to the community in advance of each session.