FOOD, shelter and compassion should be just as important as rates, rubbish and roads for Wodonga Council, its mayor believes.
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Cr Rodney Wangman stressed tackling problems such as poverty, domestic violence, isolation and homelessness during Monday night's council meeting.
"Rates, rubbish and roads have got to be replaced with food, shelter and compassion," Cr Wangman said.
"We should be able to just articulate those three words as equally as roads, rates and rubbish because if we are a genuine council of concern...that's the language that must be second nature."
Cr Wangman's comments were part of a discussion on social enterprise in the wake of a trip to South Korea last year by council chief executive Patience Harrington and Cr Lisa Mahood.
He told the meeting his definition of social enterprise was "no-one is left behind" and he wanted them to attend a social enterprise conference in Seoul because he believed the concept was central to the council's role.
Cr Wangman said it was easy to see results with pool plans or traffic studies, but social policy was just as important to address the "fracturing of society".
He pointed to the demand on welfare services and "stress at the gate" suffered by school teachers and said the council and other tiers of government needed to help.
Ms Harrington said without council addressing such issues, the community risked becoming unsafe and more violent.
Cr Mahood talked of her efforts since returning from Korea in October to follow social enterprise principles in tackling youth unemployment.
She wants council tenders to encourage the use of social enterprise principles and the city to support those willing to hire "disengaged young people".
Cr Mark Byatt questioned the linking of social enterprise tenets to tenders.
"I don't necessarily agree with the notion that our local government content policy as it currently stands, which primarily targets our tender processes, is or should be entwined with the notion of social enterprise,” Cr Byatt said.
"For me the work is in a very different space, one directly targeting our commercial tender process the other focusing directly on community-based social issues and addressing social values and norms."
A motion supporting the council continuing to foster social enterprise and entrepreneurship was approved.
