November 11, 2020
Retailers who would like to set up shop in Murgon will have extra options to choose from soon when the South Burnett Regional Council puts three vacant shops at 62-70 Lamb Street up for lease.
The strip of shops were previously split into four tenancies and formerly housed a video store, a snack shop and a charity shop.
But the charity shop closed earlier this year; the snack shop has been closed for several months and was recently vacated; and the video store owner decided to retire when their lease expired in September.
At Wednesday’s Standing Committee meeting, Councillors were told that with all the shops now vacant, Council officers were taking the opportunity to make repairs and carry out maintenance work on the building during November and December.
After this, the shops will be put out for lease early next year by tender.
Tenderers will be able to submit a tender for any or all of the shops, which will be ready to move into as soon as any tender is accepted.
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A recent $30,000 grant won by the Nanango Tennis Club will get a $20,000 top-up from the South Burnett Regional Council in the interests of public safety.
At Wednesday’s committee meeting, Councillors were told the tennis club – which leases the courts from Council – recently won a grant to upgrade the lighting system to LED floodlights.
At present, the site is lit using an electric lighting system mounted on poles around the courts.
The club wanted to mount two new LED floodlights on each of the poles, but because the LEDs are larger and heavier than the lights they will replace, Council engaged a structural engineer to check whether the old poles could handle the new loads.
The engineer found that while the light poles were structurally adequate, their base plates were already under significant stress or were undersized.
And with no surviving data about the footings available, it was only prudent to assume they would match the base plates and be stressed or undersized as well.
This being so, Councillors voted to spend $20,000 to install new light poles and electrical upgrades to make the court lighting project possible.
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A Big Peanut statue will be erected in Kingaroy’s Lions Park if a campaign which aims to raise $10,000 to build it is successful.
The committee raising funds for the statue had asked Council’s permission for the sculpture to be sited in either Lions Park – opposite The Peanut Van – or the Rogers Drive roundabout on the D’Aguilar Highway.
Councillors were told siting any sculpture on the roundabout would require approval from the Department of Transport and Main Roads, because the roundabout was on a public highway.
However, Lions Park is owned and operated by the South Burnett Regional Council and similar restrictions would not apply there.
Councillors voted to give in principle support to the request, subject to approval of a final proposal that included elements such as the finished sculpture’s design, location, ownership and maintenance.
- Related article: New Bid For A Big Peanut
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Wondai’s Meals On Wheels operation will continue to operate from Wondai Town Hall for the foreseeable future.
At Wednesday’s committee meeting, Councillors were told South Burnett Care entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Council on December 18, 2017, to occupy an office at the Town Hall so the group could administer the activities of Meals on Wheels.
The initial three-year agreement is due to expire next month, and South Burnett Care recently advised the Council they would like the current arrangement to continue.
Councillors agreed to draft a new MOU under the same terms and conditions as the current arrangements which will allow the service to continue its operations uninterrupted.
