Understanding how Rochester ticks, and knowing most of its community leaders, has enabled him to identify the areas in which he and the shire can directly assist in providing relief.
Those same relationships have also made his involvement in the recovery effort a heart wrenching and emotional experience.
Cr Jarman, who has been a support mechanism for the likes of Amanda Logie, Jane Reid, Cate Ward and Meagan Keating in the past week, said anyone who had ever lived in Rochester never completely left.
He grew up in Kerford St, on Rochester’s east side, and later on the west side in Johnston St, leaving when he was 18 years old.
Many of the people he grew up remain close friends and were among the faces he greeted when he first hit the ground on Monday after floodwaters had receded.
The former St Joseph’s College student offered these words to the community.
“As I travel around Rochester and see so many friends, even people I don’t know, working together it reminds me of how important ‘community’ is in a country town like Rochester,” Cr Jarman said.
“As a Rochester councillor I stand back with pride, amazement and sadness after seeing what this community is going through.
“This community of 2900 people has been fighting the floods since Tuesday last week, when the first sandbags were filled and flood preparations started
“Unless you saw it you wouldn’t believe it, 36,000 snadbags in 36 hours and people from the town and throughout the region working together.
“That is what reminds you of why you live in a country community in northern Victoria.
“The flood event that hit Rochester has never been seen before, it is much higher and more severe than the 2011 event that struck the town only a decade ago.
“This community has thrown more at this flood than you could reasonably expect any community to do and the businesses in town have given so much more than people would expect.
“The support from government is starting to roll in to help the 90 per cent of Rochester homes that were affected and are not able to live safely in their own homes for the forseeable future.
“We also need to consider the 100 per cent of the businesses that have been hit to the point of not being able to operate.
“Rochester is a town that doesn’t give up and they will rebuild everything, but they need people’s help.
“I hope local, state and federal governments can band together to help Rochester through this disaster.
“If anyone needs help they should see it through the recovery centre at the Presbyterian Church in Victoria St, where many of these orgainsations are now on the ground.’’
