Message from the Mayor: 31 May 2024
Published on 31 May 2024
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog shire, bringing you this week’s Mayoral message.
It was very pleasing this week to receive the list of recipients of the ‘Love Water’ grants from Hunter Water. Of the total pool of money of almost $130,000 that Hunter Water made available for the grants, almost $35,000 of that went to recipients within the Dungog shire, which is indeed pleasing when the shire produces 83% of the water that Hunter Water sells to the lower Hunter.
The recipients were spread around the shire, with the first being the Dungog District Community of Schools which received $10,000 for a Water Surveying Education Program. Then $8,000 went to Vacy for a pump and tank to water the fruit trees that have been planted down by the river. The Glen William School, a very small school within the shire, received funds to build a water tank and to create a vegetable garden using that water, and the Gresford District Community Group received funds for a water tank to assist in watering the arboretum that's been established on their land at East Gresford. So again, many thanks to Hunter Water.
The week also saw the announcement by the Hunter Region Business Council of the Hunter Region Business Excellence Awards. There were two winners from Dungog. The first was Balanced Beans, a bookkeeping service, and the second Earth & Elm Studio and Wellness Services.
In addition to the two winners, the Dungog District Chamber of Commerce was highly commended in the not-for-profit category and Balanced Beans got a second award, a highly commended under Professional Services. So to all of those businesses and not-for-profit organisations, congratulations on a job well done which has now been recognised by the Hunter Business Council. So again, congratulations!
The roads continue to be worked on when it's not raining. Queen St in Clarence Town there are still detours in place and they'll continue until the works are completed. Stroud Rd works are continuing and there's traffic control in place so be careful traveling along that road, and traffic control is still in place at Durham Road at East Gresford. The works continue and they've now moved to the other side of the road with one half being almost completed.
During the week, the General Manager and I met with the Shadow Minister for the Hunter, Scott Farlow MLC. The meeting was to highlight issues that affect this shire which the government has been a little slower than we'd like to help. They all relate to either roads or river crossings throughout the shire.
He was very receptive to our issues, and I'm sure will pursue them on our behalf with the relevant ministers so we look forward to good outcomes in due course.
Throughout the week, there have been issues raised as to the rubbish bins in Lions Park at Clarence Town. The bins were removed due to residents putting large black bags of rubbish into the bins in the park. The bins are not there for that purpose quite obviously, they're for the users of the park facilities, not for the community at large to deposit their garbage.
The bins have now been replaced and monitoring will take place to ensure that the bins are used for the purpose for which they're there.
If necessary, it may be that Council goes to the added cost of looking at closed circuit television to monitor things such as this. It's a problem that's arisen now at that park, but it's arisen throughout the shire in past times. Rubbish bins provided at Dungog Showground have been regularly abused by people driving through the showground and depositing what would appear to be household rubbish in the public bins. So beware if you're doing that it will be monitored and appropriate action taken.
I think with that, that's it for me for this week. So until next week, good luck and goodbye.