Message from the Mayor: 3 November 2023
Published on 03 November 2023
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire, bringing you this week's Mayoral update.
As I'm sure most residents, or certainly the Williams Valley would be aware, the Dungog Show is on the 10th and 11th of November, Friday and Saturday of next week. It's the 128th year that the show has been held and I am sure that those involved have put an enormous effort into making it bigger and better than in the past. So I urge everybody to come along, bring the family, and enjoy this most significant rural event of a country show.
The Electric Vehicle Working Group which has been established by Council is meeting today. The group is made up of representatives from Dungog Regional Tourism and from Council.
It's an opportune time at the moment for the group to meet to consider the possibility of obtaining grants to install EV charging points in different sites throughout the shire. The Hunter Joint Organisation of Councils was successful in getting a grant to carry out a study across the ten shires or local government areas within their sphere of operation. And that, it's anticipated, will lead to grant applications which hopefully might be successful. So it's all heading in the direction of establishing EV charging points in at least one but hopefully three locations throughout the Dungog Shire.
There have been difficulties this past week in the collection of rubbish particularly in Clarence Town and Dungog. Problems I understand have been a result of a motor vehicle breakdown on behalf of the contractor. But by now, Friday, all outstanding bins should have been collected. But if they haven't, if you're being hasn't been collected, then I urge you to call JR Richards, the contractor, on 1300 343 507.
A couple of weeks ago I advised that the Maitland Animal Management Facility had been closed as a result of an outbreak of Canine Parvovirus. The Maitland facility is used by Dungog Shire Council as there is no pound located within the Dungog LGA.
We've now been advised that the Maitland facility remains closed and will remain closed for a little while due to further outbreaks of the canine parvovirus. So if there are any issues and if you require urgent assistance, please go to Council's website or Facebook page, where details of the contacts are listed, and hopefully, your situation can be resolved whilst the facility is in its lockdown state.
Work continues on roads throughout the shire and on the Clarence Town Road in Wirrigulla which is intended to be sealed imminently. And also on Gresford Road, south of Fishers Hill Road. And work has almost been completed apart from line marking on the resealing of the stretch of Clarence Town Road, north of Wardens Road.
There have been some complaints on social media about the works in Durham Road at East Gresford. It's unfortunate that whenever roadworks are carried out, particularly within urban areas, there's going to be inconvenience to the residents. It's unavoidable unfortunately. The works in Durham Road are being carried out by a well-known and significant contractor on behalf of Council.
I repeat, there will be inconvenience, there must be, but hopefully the contractors will minimise that inconvenience to those that live nearby and those that are required to travel that road on a regular basis. But I do ask that the community be patient and tolerant, bearing in mind that the end result I'm sure will be worth the inconvenience along the way.
So with those comments until next week, good luck and goodbye.