Message from the Mayor: 23 June 2023

Published on 23 June 2023

Hi I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire bringing you this week's Mayoral update.

Last Sunday saw the Dungog Rodeo Committee make their annual presentation to community groups that had assisted them in the conduct of the annual rodeo at Easter. They gave away a total of about $30,000 to community, including $15,000 to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

It's an amazing effort from an event that attracted in excess of 6000 people on Easter Saturday, an event that's organised by a very small committee and attracts such great support from the community, both within the Shire and visitors from outside the Shire to make up a crowd of that magnitude. So special thanks to that small group and the contribution they're able to make not only with the event but with the consequent funds they distributed throughout the community.

This week saw a visit to Council by two members of the Grants Commission who came to Council for the twofold purpose, one to explain their role and the limitations they face in distributing the Federal Assistance Grants and also to hear from counselors to Councils about the issues, problems and needs it has and gave an opportunity for us to explain the inadequacy of the Federal Assistance Grant formula and how that formula disadvantages Councils such as ours. A similar situation exists with the Block Grants where we receive significantly less per kilometer of road than our neighboring Councils because of the function of the formula that's used to determine the allocation of those funds.

This coming week, we have a meeting with the member for Maitland and Minister for Regional Roads and Infrastructure, Jenny Aitchison. The purpose of this meeting is to pursue funding for the Brig O’Johnston Bridge at Clarence Town. The funding for this bridge is joint Federal and State funding. And last week I spoke with the Federal Ministers whilst in Canberra and this coming week we will speak with Jenny Aitchison. There are two aspects to the funding, one the funding that's already been approved $15 million and also the additional $4.86 million that's required to enable the project to proceed.

The Federal Government is going through a 90 day review of all infrastructure projects and we live in hope that this project will not be impacted by that review. But in an attempt to try and ensure that the project can still proceed that's why we're having a meeting with the State Minister in an attempt to convince her of the need for the replacement bridge and the urgency of it.

We'll also be addressing the Clarence Town Road funding which again is State and Federal funding and is also in some jeopardy as a result of the Federal Government review. The final two issues will be road reclassification which a committee was established by the former State Government has prepared a report but that report hasn't been released and there are indications that the current State Government does not intend implementing the report. But the Minister has publicly stated that she will assess any particular applications on a one off merit basis. As Dungog Shire has no state funded roads we will be submitting to her that we are a bit of a special case, and that there should continue to be a review of our application.

The Betterment Funding announced by the former Minister for Regional Roads and Infrastructure prior to the state election, which included funding for the replacement of the Suspension Bridge in Gresford and the upgrade of the culverts in Hooke St Dungog and the upgrade of various river crossings throughout the Shire is also a joint State and Federal funded project for which we have not received any funding date and that also is in some jeopardy. So we'll be pursuing that with the Minister as well and hopefully  we can receive a favorable outcome for the residence of the Shire with respect to those important pieces of infrastructure.

The infrastructure works continue throughout the Shire with the works associated with the sporting complex at Clarence Town and Bennett Park Dungog both continuing. Clarence Town being complete, and Dungog being on going to the parking area but the curbing and guttering I'm told should be completed in the coming week and from then on it will be the pavement and hopefully finality shortly. The bridges continue and I'm sure are causing some delays and inconvenience to residents, particularly with Jordan’s Bridge on Summer Hill Road, resulting in Summer Hill Rd being closed. That's unfortunate and something for which there regrettably is no alternative but I'm sure the end result will warrant the pain in the meantime. But we are very conscious of the short-term inconvenience that will be caused to the residents of that area.

The other bridge works are complete and roadworks are continuing to bring the ultimate works to finality. So by April of 2024 all 23 timber bridges throughout the Shire will have been replaced with concrete structures. And going forward the maintenance will be significantly less.

So until next week, that's it from me so good luck and goodbye