{"id":138823,"date":"2016-03-19T00:24:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T14:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=138823"},"modified":"2020-10-20T13:26:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T03:26:07","slug":"partners-begins-a-new-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/03\/19\/partners-begins-a-new-era\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Partners’ Begins A New Era"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CTC Partners In Foster Care service manager Susan Jerome, centre, with Division 6 candidate (and former CTC staff member) Cr Ros Heit, left, and Division 5 (re-elected) councillor Kathy Duff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Two South Burnett Regional Council hopefuls … Debbie Dennien is a Division 3 candidate at Saturday’s election, while Simon Neal is resigning from CTC to start work as a governance office at the council<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 18, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The official opening of South Burnett CTC’s “Partners In Foster Care” building in Wondai – and helping to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the “Partners” service – were some of South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann’s last official duties this week.<\/p>\n

“Partners” supports families who have taken on the role of foster carers.<\/p>\n

When the service began in March 2006, it was licensed to support 50 children; it is now is licensed for 145.<\/p>\n

“That is an awful lot of children and families, departmental hours, paperwork and paperwork and paperwork,” South Burnett CTC CEO Nina Temperton said.<\/p>\n

She said then-Wondai mayor David Carter had helped CTC to find a location to set up “Partners” in Wondai in 2006.<\/p>\n

CTC placed demountable buildings at the back of Communications House.<\/p>\n

When the program “burst out at the seams” last year, Mayor Wayne Kratzmann had stepped in to assist.<\/p>\n

“We always had our eyes on this building, but thanks to Wayne Kratzmann’s assistance we managed to persuade Council to lease it to us for a very, very long time for $1 a year,” Nina said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kratzmann cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the building.<\/p>\n

He was watched by CTC staff, councillors, foster carers, passers-by and more than a few council candidates at Saturday’s election.<\/p>\n

The presence of the “wanna-be” councillors didn’t go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

“We need support from Council to do our job, especially from a mayor who understands us and ‘just makes it happen’,” Nina said.<\/p>\n

CTC paid for the renovations of Communications House, which was the former home of CROW-FM.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kratzmann recalled his days at the radio station during his speech.<\/p>\n

“My spiritual home is Wondai but I would never have thought I would be holding a microphone again in this building,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the project showed what could happen when a community group worked with Council.<\/p>\n

“Councils are all about partnerships,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kratzmann said the renovated building had given a “new vibe” to the main street of Wondai.<\/p>\n

“No one does it better than Nina; no one does it better than CTC,” he said.<\/p>\n