Message from the Mayor: 20 October 2023
Published on 20 October 2023
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire bringing you this week's Mayoral Message.
It's almost the end of the year and once again nominations are being called for the Australia Day Awards throughout the shire.
Nominations are called for:
- Citizen of the Year
- Young Citizen of the Year
- Environmental Citizen of the Year
- Senior Sports Award (over 18)
- Junior sports Award (under 18)
- Volunteer as an individual for service to the community.
Nomination forms are available on Council’s website or they can be collected from the Administration Centre in Dungog, the library in Dungog, the Patterson Country Cafe or at East Gresford from the Food Works.
Please, I ask all members of the community and organisations to think about appropriate people to nominate for those various categories.
The awards will be announced on Australia Day at a function to be held at the James Theatre in Dungog.
So I know it's only October and Australia Day is at the end of January but now's the time to think about it and those people who are deserving of those awards for their efforts during the past year. Nominations close at 4pm on Friday, 24th of November. So it's essential that you have a nomination to Council by that time in order that the people you wish to have recognised are considered by the committee for the Awards.
The Australia Day committee that makes that decision is made up of three councillors and two community members. So it's a broad group representative of the whole of the shire.
This week has unfortunately seen the closure of the Maitland Animal Management Facility. This facility is used by Dungog Shire Council. We have an arrangement with Maitland City Council which enables our animals or animals from the shire to be taken to that facility to be cared for.
The facility has been closed, and it's been closed as a result of an outbreak of canine parvovirus. It’s been closed for a minimum of two weeks. So that has obviously a significant impact that Council is unable to use that facility for any animals that might be in need in that time. It also highlights the need for dog owners to get their animals vaccinated. I understand that as a result of the outbreak of the virus that vaccine may be in short supply. But please inquire with your vet and get your animals vaccinated to avoid your animal becoming infected and to avoid this or minimise the spread of the virus throughout the canine community.
We have had significant difficulties over recent weeks in carrying out pothole filling functions. Council has two automatic machines that go around the shire filling potholes.
Both of those machines are out of action. They are out of action through no inaction on Council's behalf but as a result of a supplier of poor-quality emulsion. It's a situation that has impacted councils right throughout New South Wales. And it has resulted in the storage facility depo having to be emptied and cleaned and both machines having to be cleaned.
This cleaning process has taken place at the behest of the suppliers of the emulsion and they have met the cost of that cleaning process. But because it's affected so many councils throughout the state, there's now an inability to obtain replacement emulsion so councils ever hopeful that emulsion supplies will return to normal before too long. But in the meantime, councils are only able to carry out pothole maintenance in a very manual manner, which is obviously much slower and means there will be less potholes filled throughout the shire during the last few weeks and probably in the next couple of weeks until a regular supply of emulsion is available.
This week saw unfortunately the passing away of Wendy Farrow. Many will know Wendy Farrow as the manager of the Visitor Information Centre in Dungog. She was employed by Council for 25 years until last year when she retired.
She had an enviable reputation in running the Visitor Information Centre and was a mainstay of the Dungog Film Festival for the five years that it ran and set up a homestay program at that time and managed that program. She was also very involved with the Mumford and Sons concert, which brought about 10,000 people to the shire for that one event. She so impressed the promoters of that concert that when it was over, they offered her a job. Fortunately for us, she chose to remain in Dungog and continue her work at the Visitor Information Centre.
She will be sadly lost to the community and I know since she retired she has been assisting other tourism operators in the Shire and I'm sure they've benefited from her experience, and that's an experience which regrettably will be lost to us all.
And that brings me to a close. So until next week, good luck and goodbye.