October 29, 2018
Mayor Keith Campbell says he is very happy with attendance numbers at this year’s ‘Listening Tour’, which drew bigger audiences than last year.
“We had about 30 people at Blackbutt, 25 at Nanango, 20 at Kingaroy, 42 at Wondai and a good turnout at Murgon,” he said.
“Our smaller towns did even better, with about 25 people attending the Maidenwell and Kumbia meetings, 21 at Durong and 48 people in Proston.”
The annual tours, which were introduced in 2016, allow residents to meet all the region’s Councillors and senior staff.
Durong was added to the tour schedule this year to allow people living in the far western areas of the region to take part.
At the meetings, residents could hear more details about why particular Budget decisions had been taken and the Council’s plans for the upcoming year.
Residents were also free to ask questions about local concerns, or raise issues they wanted the Council to address.
The Mayor said he thought this year’s high attendances was a positive sign more people were taking an interest in Council’s activities.
Roads were a “top of mind” issue with many people at the meetings, he said, and this was understandable.
So were this year’s changes to rates, which were caused by folding the former Road Levy into the general rate.
But purely local issues – such as a recent influx of bats at Proston, or swimming pool operating hours – also took centre stage at some meetings.
The Mayor said complaints about roads had topped the list of ratepayer concerns for many years, and the changes made in this year’s Budget were designed to directly address them.
The Council would be tackling the region’s 1500km unsealed road network with a $4.5 million gravel resheeting program, while a further $3 million would be spent on resealing and rehabilitating the region’s 1500km sealed road network.
This week the Mayor, Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff, Cr Gavin Jones and CEO Mark Pitt will be attending the Local Government Association of Queensland’s Annual Conference in Brisbane on October 29-31.
Council pays a conference levy in conjunction with its annual membership of the LGAQ and receives two complimentary registrations for delegates to attend the conference.
The conference is expected to call on the Federal Government for a guaranteed share of Australian taxation revenues to make up for a 43 per cent decline in local government funding over the past two decades.
The drought and changes to waste management laws are also expected to be topics of discussion.
