A DEDICATED team to help Upper Murray communities recover from summer bushfires will be based at a recently vacated Corryong Secondary College site.
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The former junior college campus will be used by more than 10 people for the next 12 months to manage and co-ordinate the recovery process.
A Victorian government allocation of $2.2 million will be used to bankroll the initiative with council also creating a dedicated relief and recovery directorate to be headed up by recently appointed director Amanda Pagan.
RELATED BUSHFIRE COVERAGE
Towong Shire chief executive Juliana Phelps said a recruiting campaign was under way for positions within the recovery effort.
"The $2.2 million is very much welcome," she said.
"But we are hopeful we can continue beyond 12 months because the recovery is going to be quite long.
"It will also be appropriate to invite the premier (Daniel Andrews) to the Upper Murray to see how affected communities have been."
Cr Andrew Whitehead said ensuring the correct structure was in place for the recovery was a "necessity".
"A lot of people are saying 'why is so much money being spent on this and not actually doing stuff', but if we don't organise it properly, we don't man it properly, it won't work," he said.
The council also has $1 million in federal government funding for bushfire recovery and how it proposes to spend the money is expected to be presented to the March council meeting.
