September 2014 – Lisa-Marie Stones – President

Lisa-Marie Stones
Lisa-Marie Stones

The past few months have been a busy time for your Council.

We have had two Community meetings on the question of amalgamation/expansion and have carried out an online survey of community opinion. While disappointed with the number of answers from the survey we were pleased at the turn out for the meetings. This will give Council a feel for its submission to the NT Government and allow for us to take the initiative rather than waiting “to be told”.

We will be having another open community soon – the date is to be considered at the next Council Meeting.

Other breaking news is that unfortunately due to increasing workload at his ‘day job’, Councillor Ian Crawshaw has resigned from Council; we thank Ian for his past efforts.

A by-election will be held on Saturday 14/11/2014 from 8am till 6pm at the Community Centre if more than one nomination for Council is received. A notice inviting nominations will be advertised on Friday 24/10/14 and close of nominations will be Friday 31/10/14 at 12 noon.

On a brighter note, thanks to the assistance from our local member, Gary Higgins and the CEO has received a grant of $55,000.00 for the Sports oval. Goal posts for soccer and AFL will be erected soon, and a ball/bat wall also will be built. Work will then start on a cricket pitch. New sports equipment, balls, bats, etc., have been ordered for use by the children of Wagait Beach.

More good news is that grant monies have been obtained and used to purchase satellite phones for Emergency Services and the Volunteer firefighters and a generator for the Council Office. These will give us greater capacity for emergency response during the cyclone season.

During senior’s week, our seniors had a pleasant lunch outing at the Trailer Boat club. Special thanks to Robbo for his expert bus driving.

You may also notice that our Council website has been revamped and now contains much more information. These improvements will continue. If you have any ideas please approach our CEO Michael and let him know.

You may also notice that we now have a new works vehicle and that by chance it shows the red and green colors of the Rabbitohs. This by no means indicates any allegiance by this Council, or President to any particular team (Go the Doggies!).

On a serious note your Council would like to extend its condolences to the families and friends of the community members that we have lost recently.

Well, that is all for now, I have been advised to keep this to one page. Look out for the next message before the Xmas break. Only 11 weeks to go!!!