November 22, 2014
The South Burnett Regional Council will relocate its Community and Events Department from Kingaroy to Wondai on Monday.
The move follows a similar decision last month to move the SBRC’s Natural Resources Department from Kingaroy to Murgon.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann made the announcement this morning at the official opening of Wondai’s Village Green.
The Mayor said Council inherited four sets of Council offices when it was formed in 2008.
But until recently only two were extensively used: Kingaroy, which has become the Council’s head office, and Nanango, which is home to the Engineering Department.
Wondai, Murgon and Blackbutt were primarily customer service centres.
This had left smaller towns feeling they were being “bypassed”.
However, the decision to relocate Natural Resources to Murgon – which increased the building’s staff to 10 – had drawn an immediate positive response from Murgon’s business community.
So he hoped the Wondai move, which would see “between eight and 10” staff working from the Mackenzie Street offices, would do the same.
The Mayor said another initiative Councillors hoped to introduce was to have key staff drive from any office to any other office if residents needed to meet with them.
This would reduce the need for residents to travel to Kingaroy.
“If you need to see a building inspector, for example, in future you’ll be able to make an appointment and see the inspector in Wondai, not have to travel to Kingaroy,” the Mayor said.
“It’s all about better customer service.”
One of the first people to welcome the announcement was former Wondai Shire Mayor Percy Iszlaub, who was performing with the Wondai & District Band at the morning’s celebrations.
Percy served as Wondai Mayor for 37 years, and Wayne Kratzmann served in the building with him for 25 years as a Wondai Shire Council officer, ultimately rising to become Deputy CEO.
Percy said he had many fond memories of the Mackenzie Street offices and was sure Mayor Kratzmann would, too.
He thought the old Council offices were a hub in Wondai, and said he would welcome seeing more life return to the building.
