Message from the Mayor: 29 September 2023
Published on 29 September 2023
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire bringing you this week's Mayoral Message.
The week started I guess as everybody's aware with significant bushfires burning on either side of the shire. Fires up in the Salisbury, Upper Allyn area in the forest and also on the other side in the Monkerai area where I understand a hazard reduction burn by the National Park became a significant fire event.
So a big thank you to all the RFS volunteers who are from throughout the Shire who were involved in both of those significant events.
It also ended with the Dungog Showground being made available by councilors as an emergency facility for the refueling of helicopters that were used to fight both of those fires.
The use of the showground, and all showgrounds and large facilities for those purposes is essential, and one of the reasons that they're maintained and controlled, as in the case of Dungog managed by Council for use in emergency management, and have facilities for the emergency management of animals in times of flood or fire and let's hope that the summer approaches that we won't see too many repeats of the last week and that we have seen the worst of it but I fear that is not the case.
Also during the week, a scheduled meeting was held with the office of the Minister for Regional Development in NSW, Minister Moriarty. Her chief of staff met with Council on Wednesday and the dominant point of discussion of course, was the bridge over the Williams River at Clarence Town, the replacement for the Brig O’Johnston Bridge.
The office was very receptive of Council’s position with respect to the matter and undertook to contact relevant Ministers on behalf of Council, as the Ministry of Regional Development is an umbrella ministry rather than a particular ministry. So they undertook to approach relevant state and federal ministers in an endeavour to pursue Council’s request for the additional funds to enable the work to proceed.
The Shire-wide curbside cleanup of green waste commences on the 9th October and runs through to the 13th October.
It will be carried out in all the towns and villages throughout the Shire within the 50km sign-posted area.
There are some restrictions on what will be collected.
*The waste must be securely tied with rope or string, but not with wire.
*Any lawn clippings or loose vegetation must be in sturdy cardboard boxes.
* Any garden prunings or tree limbs must be no longer than 1.8 meters and no thicker than 250 millimeters.
* Any loose items, thorny bushes, large tree stumps, sawdust, treated timber or materials in plastic bags will not be collected.
So the facility is there, but there are certain guidelines that the community must adhere to, to enable it to work. So it's the 9th to the 13th of October. But please remember the guidelines and the limitations on what will or won't be collected by the contractors as JR Richards & Sons. If you've got any doubt, please feel free to call JR Richards & Sons on 1300 343 5071 and they'll be able to give you further guidance.
The long weekend is going to be a very significant weekend throughout the Dungog Shire.
There are numerous activities taking place throughout the shire. Perhaps the most shire wide event is the Country Music Festival. It has venues from Paterson, Clarence Town through to numerous venues in Dungog and Gresford.
It starts tonight Friday night and continues over the weekend. The full program is available on their Facebook page, Dungog Country Music Festival. And you'll see that it's quite extensive with the large number of venues that are participating in this event. It ranges from the Dungog Showground through to hotels in all the centres that I referred to so a great event to become involved in throughout the weekend.
Another of the events also starting tonight is Sculpture on the Farm at Fosterton. This event held every second year starts tonight and runs over the weekend. The Dungog Art Society is also opening its event tonight at the James Theatre in Dungog and again it runs over the weekend and into next week. The Dungog Garden Ramble is also on over the weekend, and you can find the details of that throughout the media as to the gardens that are open throughout the town and outside the town as well.
The annual Oktoberfest at the Wallarobba Memorial Hall is on Saturday with the Daushound races I think about 2pm.
So, with that, I think that's it for me until next week. But with all those activities I'm sure you'll have a very full long weekend.
But don't forget the bushfire season is about to start. In reality, it's already started. Please be careful with any planned or unplanned burns to minimise the impact on the volunteers who have to come to your aide if you do something foolish. So think about the consequences before lighting fires.
And that's it for me. Until next week goodbye and good luck.