December 18, 2018
Petitions calling on the South Burnett Regional Council to respond to several local issues of concern will be considered by councillors in the New Year.
During the past two months, the Council received four petitions, calling for:
- The relocation of Wondai’s Christmas tree from the roundabout to Coronation Park,
- Opening Murgon’s Jubilee Swimming Pool every morning,
- Improving and upgrading Carew Park in Kingaroy, and
- Building a multi-age playground at Bjelke-Petersen Dam’s day use area.
The petitions were tabled and accepted at the November and December meetings without comment.
However, Mayor Keith Campbell said on Tuesday they had not been ignored.
Instead, all petitions have been forwarded on to staff in the relevant Council departments for consideration.
Staff will examine the issues surrounding each request and deliver reports back to Councillors for discussion.
The Mayor said with the festive season break coming up, he thought it was likely the reports would be received early in the New Year.
The Mayor said Councillors took petitions seriously.
However, the way they were handled was covered by the Council’s Conduct Of Council And Committee Meetings policy.
This policy forbids any discussion of petitions during meetings.
Instead, Councillors can only vote to accept or reject them.
If accepted, the petition is then passed on to a Council officer or committee for consideration and action.
“We accepted all four petitions, and they’re now being looked at,” Mayor Campbell said.
“I expect we’ll be debating them in January or February once Council’s officers have investigated what we can do.”
The Mayor said the process outlined in the Council’s policy was designed to ensure all petitions were handled in a standard way, and issues raised in them were assessed fairly and professionally.
Footnote: A fifth petition, on the unofficial change.org website, is calling on the South Burnett Regional Council to make all pet desexing mandatory in the region, except for pedigree animals.
