April 19, 2017
The number of tourists visiting the South Burnett over the Easter break was good, but not record-breaking.
Cr Kathy Duff told Wednesday’s Council meeting that Yallakool hosted 753 visitors over the Easter weekend, while Lake Boondooma hosted 1057.
She said neither figure was a record however, they were encouraging because Easter fell on the last week of the school holidays this year which usually makes visitor numbers drop.
Cr Duff also reported that thanks to ex-Cyclone Debbie, Boondooma Dam’s level had risen from 33 per cent to 54 per cent.
Bjelke-Petersen Dam’s catchment area missed out on the bulk of the ex-cyclone’s rainfall, so levels had only risen from 22 to 24 per cent.
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Bargain hunters hoping to secure an empty block behind the Kumbia Hotel for a rock bottom price walked away from Wednesday’s Council meeting empty handed.
The block – at the corner of Francis and Short streets – was put out to tender when the Council decided it was surplus to requirements.
Four tenders were received but were all rejected when they offered significantly less than fair market price.
Council will now put the property on the market through a local real estate agent.
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An Ellesmere property owner has told Council officers he’ll remove 10 car bodies from his land after a neighbour lodged a petition calling on Council to take action.
At the SBRC’s April meeting, Council officers said they had begun talks with the owner when the petition was received.
The owner told them he would have the cars cleared off his block by a scrap metal merchant as soon as the land had dried out after recent rainfall.
If this did not occur, officers said, they would pursue other methods to have the car bodies removed.
Cr Terry Fleischfresser said he had personally received “three or four” complaints about similar situations on other blocks in the region.
He suggested Council might consider taking a stronger approach in the future.
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South Burnett Motors In Motion have been given a $5000 loan from Council to build concrete barriers for this year’s Wondai Sprints.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Councillors heard organisers had spent $40,000 hiring concrete barriers and having them transported to and from the Wondai Industrial Estate for the inaugural Wondai Sprints last year.
So this year – to avoid the cost – volunteers have been spending every Sunday casting their own concrete barriers.
The group believe they will need to cast at least 100 barriers to ensure spectator safety at the event, and have built 54 of them so far.
They needed the loan to pay for materials to cast the remaining blocks.
The Council is allowed to give loans to community organisations under the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, and Councillors agreed to advance the funds subject to the condition the loan must be repaid in full within three years via quarterly repayments.
Councillors heard the rate of interest would be the default pool rate set by Queensland Treasury, and if the loan was repaid within 12 months no interest would apply.
Cr Ros Heit said organisers had told her that if this year’s Wondai Sprints repeated last year’s success, they were confident they could repay the loan in full within weeks of the June 10-11 event.
“But if they have a bad year, they’re still confident they can repay the amount in full next year,” Cr Heit said.
Councillors approved the loan unanimously.
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The South Burnett Pantry will be asked to refund a $2500 grant the group received from the Mayor’s Community Benefit Fund to purchase a bain marie.
The Pantry, which distributes heavily discounted food packages to needy residents, wanted to acquire a bain marie to extend their services.
But when someone donated one the grant became unnecessary, and the Pantry had written to Council asking if they could apply the money towards upgrading their existing freezers instead.
Mayor Keith Campbell said the South Burnett Pantry was a great asset to the community.
The group had received a lot of support from the Council over many years in recognition of the good work they did, and would likely do so in the future.
However, Council was obliged to ensure grant money was spent on what it was intended to be used on.
So in this instance, he thought the best way around the problem was for the Pantry to return the $2500, then reapply for another use they wanted to put it towards.
Councillors agreed.
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Thew final piece of the Blackbutt Hall has disappeared from Coulson Street, Blackbutt, to make way for the supermarket development.
Cr Spud Jones said all pieces of the hall had now been relocated to their new site near Nukku Nook.
They would now be re-assembled and the hall prepared for use before work started on the supermarket construction.
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A commercial operator who wanted to hire Kingaroy Town Common Hall at no charge to hold a bridal expo had their application turned down at the April Council meeting.
If they want to hire the venue, they will need to pay the normal hire rate.
But a not-for-profit community group who wanted to hire Murgon Town Hall to stage an event in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Australia has been given a 50 per cent discount.
Both decisions were in line with a long-standing Council policy to charge commercial operators standard hall hiring rates, but to make the region’s halls available at half price to non-profit groups.
Both decisions were passed unanimously.
