WE received confirmation this week that Swan Hill Rural City Council will not have a ward structure, from the next election.

Our council is now made up of seven councillors from four wards.

Four Councillors are elected from the Central ward around Swan Hill, and one councillors from each of the Robinvale, Murray-Mallee and Lakes wards.

Last year, the Victorian Electoral Commission reviewed this structure and the decision to change to an unsubdivided municipality has now been made official.

Our seven councillors will now be elected from throughout the municipality. It won't matter where you live or work, you will simply nominate to be a councillor representing our entire municipality.

The next council election is due to be held in October.

We expect to hear from the Minister for Local Government in the next few weeks about whether the election will go ahead or be deferred due to coronavirus.Rates reminder

WE have just sent out notices for the final instalment of 2019/20 rates.

Due to coronavirus, we've deferred unpaid rates for commercial ratepayers for six months, interest free.

If you're a commercial ratepayer, you don't have to do anything for this to apply.

We know that other ratepayers - like residential, industrial or farming - might also be impacted by coronavirus.

If you are, you can apply for special consideration to give you more time to pay your rates.

Give the office a call or go onto council's website to apply for this special consideration.Town Hall curtains

THIS one is a bit of fun, and we need that at the moment.

The Swan Hill Town Hall stage has three sets of massive wool curtains – totalling 290 square metres of fabric.

The curtains are worn, damaged in places, and are no longer fire safe.

They will be replaced for the first time in 25 years, and council is asking the community to help decide what colour they should be.

Go to council's website or Facebook page to see the different colour options and to vote for your favourite.Great to have The Guardian back

Welcome back to The Guardian - I was so pleased to hear that The Guardian was coming back from this week.

I know people have been missing the printed news, especially older people and those who don't have great internet access.

Of course, local news and stories are so important at a time like this, so having The Guardian back each Friday will be a great asset for our community.