Hi, Digby Rayward here again. It's my pleasure to present this week's Council Happenings.
Just a heads-up about council staff. They're doing a great job. The outdoor staff is very active with roadwork everywhere. If you're not sure where they're working, just go to our Facebook page, and you'll see it listed each week where the work is happening. We've also got some new members on the indoor team, and I'm pleased to say they show a lot of enthusiasm and bring fresh eyes and experience to the discussion, so it's great. Yeah, that's all going well.
It's also great to see the work on the swimming pools finished. It was a lot of pressure to get there, and there was a lot of work to do, including catch-up and overdue work. But it's all done, and the pools are open and just in time for the holidays, so well done there.
Also, a reminder that our draft Customer Experience Strategy is on Public Exhibition. This is a really important one for Council's engagement with customers. That's you, people, right? The submissions close on the 19th October. Go to the website and get involved. I think this is a great step forward, and it'll take a bit of work. We want you to be engaged in this discussion.
Now I want to give you an update on the Financial Assistance Grants. You've heard me banging on about this a few times, and it's a little hard to get your head around. What happens is the federal government hands down these grants, and then they're distributed to each state. The NSW ones are distributed by the NSW Grants Commission. There's a new lot of Grants Commissioners who have been appointed, and they've finally realised that the money was not being allocated to the different councils in the way it was intended to be. So the councils with the greatest needs would receive additional funding to meet those needs. That was the whole theory behind the federal money, because bigger councils can generate much more income. They get more in parking fines than we get in our total income. So we all know that the bag of money coming from the feds is shrinking. So all councils are being affected. However, as this small amount of money is being distributed at the state level through the NSW Grants Commission, it is obvious that the smaller rural councils are the most disadvantaged, like Dungog.
The newly appointed Grants Commissioner has recognised this anomaly and put out a draft formula to try to correct the distribution of funds. This means those with the greatest needs, like Dungog, will receive a larger share of the smaller amount of money that's available. All councils have been given the opportunity to examine this draft formula, raise any concerns, and put forward evidence for the change. Unfortunately, I'm disappointed. Some councils are focusing on whether they are winners or losers at this point in the discussion, and they seem to be trying to derail the efforts of the Grants Commissioner. Now is not the time for those individual councils to focus on whether they are winners or losers. We've got to focus on getting the formula right, and then let the fair and transparent formula determine the outcome. I'll leave that one with you. It's very important for Dungog.
Now let's talk about the Brig O'Johnston Bridge. Our new $22million bridge is almost finished. The question remains: What happens to the old Brig O'Johnston Bridge? We have asked the state government for an estimate of what the budget will be to repair this bridge, and as I've said to you before, the rumour is around $30-$40 million. So we're waiting for that response and for information on what other options might be available. As this bridge is currently classified as a heritage bridge, it will remain under that classification.
Ownership will remain with Transport, and they will restore it as a trafficable bridge. But I also see that Transport has recently invited people to comment on the current heritage bridge listing, and I'd encourage people to take a close look at this because we need to know. We've got a bridge close to us, Monkerai Bridge, which is similarly classified as a trust timber bridge, the same as Brig O'Johnston. We already have a perfect example of one of those bridges, and it's really well maintained. It's only 30km, and it's in good shape. So what happens to the Brig O'Johnston Bridge if it's not classified as a heritage bridge? We want to know the answer to that. So we'll be on that. I've got a mayoral minute coming up next week. The next meeting will put pressure on them.
We've got the state election coming up early next year. You've heard us bang on about it, and we're ramping up our advocacy through our 'Fair Funding for Dungog' - that's what we'll be running with. So watch this space as we roll that out. We'll need the community behind our efforts! With the videos we've produced so far, we've had over 30,000 hits on some of them, so we're getting traction. But we'll need you behind us. Once we know who the candidates are, we'll crank it up as much as we can.
And look, finally, to finish off for today, there's only one thing to say: go the Knights, go the Knights!!!!
Okay, I'll catch you next time. Till then, cheers.
