Hello, Digby Raywood here. It's my pleasure to once again present this week's Council Connect.
I don't have to tell you that the state of our roads is the biggest message we get all the time, and I can say the outdoor staff is actually doing a great job in this space. There's so much work to do, but there's no point in my telling you all about that. You can go to the Council's website and Facebook page, and you'll see where the action's happening, and what the guys are doing. So, well done to that team!
We're certainly lobbying hard for more dollars to go to Dungog for our roads. There's no doubt about it. We're active in this space every week and aware that the state elections are coming up next year. We're certainly looking for more support from our residents to add to our voice, so we'll be reaching out for your support in the next few months as well.
Let me give a quick example of the inequity in funding formulas. One is called a Block Grant funding. The road from Maitland to Dungog, if you're in the Maitland shire and you get to Tocal, Maitland is getting $36,450 per kilometre for their road maintenance. As soon as you get past Tocal and into Dungog, we're getting $11,048 per kilometre. Let me tell you that again! $36,450 for Maitland, and $11,048 for Dungog. We think that's completely unreasonable, and we will need more voices to achieve a fairer outcome. This is only one formula that disadvantages us. There are many others, but we'll be on the bandwagon and we'll need your support as well.
Another factor affecting our roads is wet weather. We certainly dodged a bullet last weekend, and only ended up with a minor flood, despite all the warnings, which it's good to have the warnings. Our staff, SES, and everyone were all on alert, but luckily it didn't come to anything major, but it still affects our roads.
I'm also pleased to tell you we've got a new Emergency Management Officer, Luke Jamieson. Welcome on board Luke. We've got some really exciting new staff coming on who are full of energy and experience, and Luke is one of those people. In the coming weeks, Luke will be facilitating an interagency training event to review the management and testing of the Hooke Street emergency siren. The testing date has not yet been confirmed, but we will give plenty of notice to residents. So, when you hear a siren go off, don't panic and go rushing out to get your life jackets on. Luke's right on the job and making sure we're up to date.
Clarence Town Bridge – it's great to see a few cars going over the bridge. As you know, we did a soft opening of the bridge the other week. It won't be finished till the end of the year, but it's looking terrific! When you're going over the bridge, look down at the old bridge, and you'll see what a debacle the maintenance has been on that old bridge. It's just another example of government not working very well.
And also I mentioned to you earlier that the new Gresford Bridge is a step closer. The contracts been awarded to Bridge Marine and Engineering. So those guys will be in the design and delivery space fairly soon. So that's good, a bit of positive action around town.
Good on the Settlers Arms Hotel. They put on a fabulous concert over the weekend. Anyone who went through town saw that it was absolutely packed! 1000 visitors and locals, the town was buzzing; it was great to see. We really need these tourist events, so well done to the Settlers. I know there's plenty of camping in the Showground, so it's been great for everyone, really.
Down at Paterson, we have the Tucker Park Tree Works. We know the park down at Paterson is absolutely vital, but unfortunately, the trees have become a bit of a hazard. I think I've spoken about this before, but we had a great community information session where the community was involved in discussions on what's being planned to make the area safe and what works are planned for the trees, so that's progressing well now.
Last time I spoke with you, I mentioned that the Budget and the Operational plans were out for comment for 28 days. I'm pleased to report that the General Manager tells me there have been quite a few responses to these documents, which is good. It shows that some people are actually interested in the business, not just the Councillors. So, well done to those who have seen an opportunity to make a comment. They'll be assessed by our staff and come back to Council for consideration.
Last Monday, the General Manager, Gareth, and the Asset Manager, Damian, attended the Local Roads Congress in Parliament House in Sydney. This was a very broad agenda on a number of things. They're also lobbying for Councils on a whole lot of issues, and we were able to vote and put our priorities on that. We also had talks from the Minister for Roads and the Shadow Minister, and as I said, it was quite an extensive agenda, but certainly the thing that stood out was technology improvements and artificial intelligence. You can get cameras now that you can hook onto your garbage trucks, and they will give images back on your roads and the condition of the roads, so that you can prioritise which roads need to be actioned. So just watch this space, it's an amazing technological development.
If you're in town and looking for something to do, camp drafting is on this weekend. Those who don't know anything about camp drafting go to the Dungog Showground. The camp drafting event is one that doesn't attract a lot of attention as a rodeo does, but it shows the stockmanship of the riders and the great horses and their ability to work cattle. That just shows Dungog is rural, but not remote.
Anyway, I think that's enough from me. Until next time, I'll catch up with you then. Cheers.
