May 18, 2016
Although the Kingaroy-Murgon Rail Trail is expected to be opened within a few months, its official opening won’t occur until October.
Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff told Wednesday’s Council meeting a new committee had recently been formed, and it plans to hold a gala opening event as part of the South Burnett and Cherbourg On Show long weekend.
The committee, which includes several community members keen to be involved, is currently considering a number of ideas.
These include a baton relay along the trail and a launch lunch or dinner, but nothing has been finalised yet.
In the meantime, work on the Rail Trail is progressing on schedule.
Cr Duff told the meeting the Memerambi North bridge is expected to be completed in a few days.
Oiling of the bridge by a CTC Work Skills team has begun, and installation of the balustrades will start as soon as the deck is installed.
Work also began on the Barambah bridge last week, and it should provide walkway access shortly.
Cr Duff said earthworks around bridge approaches along the trail is also underway, and work on the trail’s surface construction will be in full swing shortly.
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Cr Duff also reported that work on an upgrade to Kingaroy’s Glendon Street car park is continuing.
In the last month work has started on installing new playground equipment, a block wall and garden edging.
The Glendon Street bus depot building and the outside walls of the amenities block have been rendered and painted, while the inside of the amenities block has been refurbished with new tiles and painting.
Trees have also been delivered, ready for planting.
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Local streets and parks have been getting some seasonal maintenance recently, too.
Reg McCallum Park in Nanango has been tidied up; town areas in both Nanango and Blackbutt have been mown; and Maidenwell has been added to the works program, Cr Duff said.
Construction of a new toilet block at Benarkin has begun; a new shade cloth has been installed at the Kingaroy Skate Park; and a new gazebo has been built at the Wondai cemetery, complete with a pathway.
The street trees in Nanango have also been sprayed for borers, and will be monitored.
The season is mild at the moment, Cr Duff said, so tidy up work will continue as required.
Council needs to also maintain some its other areas of responsibility other than those “high visibility” areas.There is a median strip at the corner of Jones and Bailey Streets in Wondai that is rarely mowed, it has been left to a resident to pay to have it mowed (and I know, as I do the job).
It is always overgrown and unsightly and if it was a vacant block there would have been a “mow or else” notice issued by the council.
It’s fine to say “call the council and report it and get a job number to follow up” but shouldn’t it be part of a scheduled maintenance programme? There are certainly enough council utes cruising around to see some of these problems.