Message from the Mayor: 31 March 2023

Hello, I'm John Connors, the mayor of the Dungog Shire, bringing you this week's mayoral message. 

The week has been, or the last couple of weeks or even more, have been taken up with the NSW elections. The NSW election are not yet finalised, however, it's become reasonably clear, in this area, that Dave Layzell has been re-elected as the member for Upper Hunter and I think all of the sitting members in the Lower Hunter, in and around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Cessnock, and Mid Coast have all been re-elected. So there's no changes in this part of the world. To all those that have been successful, we wish them well.  

And we, as a council will continue, as we have in the past, to advocate to the government of the day for the betterment of the shire. We will certainly be advocating to the new government for a finalisation of the reclassification of roads process. The committee was established by the previous government to investigate the reclassification of roads throughout NSW. I understand that committee has finalised its report to government, and I would like to think that the new government will act in accordance with that report, whatever it is that the report might recommend, because it hasn't been made public. 

But we're the only local government area in NSW that does not have a state road. And back in 2017, when the Labor Party ran candidates for the Dungog Shire Council, they ran on a platform of road reclassification, and in fact, had a petition at the pre-poll booths and polling booths, asking people to sign their petition, seeking a reclassification of roads in within this shire. So, we will certainly be advocating to the government that we as the only shire in the state without a state road should receive some consideration sooner rather than later.  

On 1 April, the brand new amenities building of the Gresford Sporting Complex will be open. 1 April is the soccer club Gala Day, the beginning of their season, and in conjunction with the Gala Day at 11 o'clock, the new facilities will be open. It cost approximately $1.3 million, a large part of which was government grants, and part of which was contributed by Council. Both the state and federal government have contributed to the building dominantly the state government. Everybody's welcome I hope the community turns up on mass on Saturday to celebrate with the community of Gresford.  

Throughout the Shire, each of the villages there are information boards. They were erected many years ago and they're all looking a little bit tired. Dungog Regional Tourism has undertaken the task of refurbishing the notice boards in each of the towns and villages. So, in coming months, all of those information boards in each village and town will be brought up to date, refurbished and set hopefully for another 10 years of durable use.  

Easter brings to Gresford, the Billy Cart Derby and to Dungog, the rodeo. Both of those activities attract large crowds. The rodeo at the Dungog Showground normally attracts about 5000 people, and there's no reason why this year shouldn't be as big as it's been in the past. So, I encourage the community and any visitors to the area to participate in both events. The Billy Cart Derby which runs through the day and the rodeo which starts during the day and runs well into the night with the entertainment and the music and at both events there will be stalls selling food and refreshments and I encourage people to come along and enjoy the occasion.  

This past week, Council had an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday night. The meeting was called for several purposes. The dominant reason being there were a number of outstanding development applications that there was a desire to dispose off as quickly as possible and that was done.  

There was also brought to Council, a petition signed by a large number of people at the Dungog pool, seeking that the pool remain open for a longer period. As you're probably aware it's due to close at the end of March, 31 March. The petition thought it should remain open, but to have it remain open was going to cost Council a significant amount of money and the pool is in desperate need of some refurbishment and the filtration unit and other technical parts of the facility are very much in need of repair and upgrade. There was concern from the engineers that to the pool run any longer, was putting at risk the equipment. There was also the feeling that the money that would be required to enable the pool to stay open could be better spent in being put towards the upgrading of the current deficient filtration and other equipment at the pool. So that was the decision of Council and the pool will close on 31 March, it will reopen on the first Saturday of the September/October school holidays and in the interim work will be carried out on the filtration unit and on other parts of the pool that require refurbishment and much needed repair. So hopefully, when we get to reopening the pool coming into spring it's in a much better state than it is at the moment.  

Also, at the extraordinary meeting on Wednesday night, there was a mayoral minute brought by me to the Council. The minute related to a matter that had come before Council at it's not ordinary March meeting. That was a development application with respect to development being carried out at Hilldale by a company known as Brimble Rail. The application seeks consent for a transport terminal, which on the site is a facility that's maintaining rail infrastructure equipment. The facility had been operating since about 2020 without approval, the development application was lodged in 2021 and it's only now in a state that it could come to Council. It came to Council with a recommendation from the Council officers that it be refused. The decision of Council at the ordinary meeting in March was that the matter be deferred to enable there to be a consultation with the applicants. The decision on Wednesday night just gone at the extraordinary meeting, was that that meeting had to take place before 31 March and it has, it did, and further that the matter come back before Council at its April meeting and the applicant lodge any further applications or material it wishes to lodge prior to 12 noon on 14 April, to enable a further report by the officers to the April ordinary meeting of Council. So then Council can reconsider the matter in its April meeting in the line of any further material that may or may not have been lodged within the timeframe that's now been settled.  

So, I think with all of those things and all the activities that are on this weekend and Easter, I bid you well and until next week, good luck and goodbye.