November 21, 2018
The South Burnett Regional Council will forgive most of an elderly woman’s $16,142.14 water bill.
At Wednesday’s monthly meeting, Councillors were told a property in Moore Street, Kingaroy, had run up the bill because of an undetected water leak.
Council officers had noticed excess water usage at the property a year ago and tried to contact the owner many times.
They later discovered she had left the property and moved to Orana aged care complex.
The leak was occurring underneath the building’s concrete foundations, where it was undetectable.
The woman’s son applied to the Council to reduce the charges, and Councillors agreed to the request.
The charges will be reduced to the normal average water use for the property during the period the leak occurred.
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Council will not abandon Divisions at the next local government elections in March 2020, even though opinion about them is divided.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Cr Terry Fleischfresser said he was opposed to Divisions because they limited the choices offered to voters.
Cr Fleischfresser said if several inferior candidates put up their hands to represent a Division, voters could only choose among them.
By contrast, a whole-of-shire election gave voters the choice of electing the best candidates available.
However, Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff disagreed.
Cr Duff said Gympie Regional Council had originally been an undivided Council after amalgamation, but found it led to voter dissatisfaction.
Residents in smaller towns – such as Goomeri – felt they were being overlooked by councillors elected from more populous parts of that region.
As a result, Gympie later moved to a Divisional system and found it improved the situation.
“These days, Hilary Smerdon is Goomeri’s Divisional councillor and locals feel their concerns are represented much better,” Cr Duff said.
Councillors voted to advise the Local Government Change Commission the SBRC does not propose to change its current Divisions at the next local government elections.
The motion was carried 6-1, with Cr Fleischfresser opposed.
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Council meetings will continue to be held on the third Wednesday of the month next year.
The only exceptions will be June and December, when they will be held on the second Wednesday.
Councillors formally adopted 2019’s meeting schedule on Wednesday.
All meetings will be held in the Warren Truss Chamber at the Council’s Kingaroy offices in Glendon Street, beginning at 9:00am.
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Maidenwell’s Community Committee will be given a lease over their shed at the Maidenwell Sportsgrounds.
The shed was built several years ago thanks to a grant from Nanango’s Heritage Bank.
It is used as a meeting place and to store equipment that supports several annual events the group run at the sportsgrounds as fundraisers.
These include the Maidenwell Easter Running Festival and the Maidenwell Post Rip Challenge.
The $75 annual fee will be the same concessional rent the Council applies to all not-for-profit community groups.
However, the Community Committee will still be responsible for all other property charges they might incur including rates, water and waste water charges, and electricity, phone and data charges.
Cr Gavin Jones absented himself from the meeting while the issue was discussed and decided as he is president of the group.
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A long-standing oversight from the 2008 Council amalgamations was finally plugged on Wednesday when Council voted to give the Proston Golf Club a lease over its grounds.
Councillors heard the golf club always believed it had a lease with the Council, but recently discovered this wasn’t so.
When this was raised with Council, the situation turned out to be a pre-amalgamation issue that had somehow managed to slip through the cracks.
To rectify it – in both the Council and the golf club’s interests – Councillors voted to give the golf club a $75-a-year lease on the same conditions as the Maidenwell Community Committee.
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The South Burnett Antique Car Club will be allowed to sub-lease a portion of Council land at 6 Cornish Street, Kingaroy, to build a 6m x 9m storage shed.
The South Burnett Enterprise Centre was originally a project of the former Kingaroy Shire Council to provide support for establishing small businesses in the region.
A not-for-profit group, Kingaroy Regional Enterprise Centre Association Inc (KRECA), was set up to lease the Council land and take responsibility for the project.
Councillors were told that since then, demand for the centre had declined and part of the block remained undeveloped.
Community groups such as Apex, Rotary and the South Burnett Musical Comedy Society have taken up tenancies not related to the centre’s original purpose.
KRECA sought approval from Council to enter into a sub-lease with the Antique Car Club.
Councillors agreed to the proposal, but will recommend KRECA adopt the Council’s $75-a-year concessional rental rate.
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Council will realign the northern boundary separating its Nanango offices from Nanango Court House after discovering that part of its building and associated car park is sited on land owned by the Department of Justice.
On Wednesday, Councillors heard the boundary line separating the two properties was out of alignment.
The error was only discovered during recent investigations into the refurbishment of Council’s Nanango offices.
Council officers said that as long as Council pays for resurveying the boundary and changing the title, the Department of Natural Resources would gift any land required to correct the anomaly cost-free, because it would remain as Reserve land.
Councillors agreed to take up the offer.
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The C&K Community Kindergarten in Murgon will be given a $75-a-year lease over its premises at 42 Macalister Street in Murgon so it can continue operating at the site.
On Wednesday, Councillors were told an agreement had been struck with the Creche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland – the not-for-profit group that operates C&K kindys – to formalise its relationship with Council.
The lease will follow the same terms and conditions that apply to leases given to other non-profit groups.
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The Murgon Sports Association will be relieved of a $1490 charge to reduce the size of a water connection servicing Murgon Showgrounds.
Councillors heard the Showgrounds have formerly been served by a 100mm water pipe, and the Association had asked if this could be reduced to a standard 25mm pipe to lower its water charges.
Council’s fee to make the change was $1490, but the Association asked this be waived.
Councillors agreed.
Deputy Mayor Kathy Duff – who is president of the Association – left the meeting room while the matter was discussed.
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A request by Kingaroy State School to reduce the fees Council charges at the Kingaroy Swimming Pool has been rejected.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Councillors were told Council faced a potential loss of $2220 over a two-week period while the school conducted swimming lessons.
Even worse, if Council agreed to the school’s request, this would create a precedent for all other schools in the region who would expect a similar discount.
Given that the region’s swimming pools were already a “black hole” of losses for ratepayers, this was not a viable option.
Instead, several Councillors thought if the State Government wanted to encourage all children being taught how to swim, it should contribute to the cost of the program rather than ask Councils to shoulder the costs.
They suggested the school contact Education Queensland about the matter.
