{"id":299227,"date":"2021-05-17T12:42:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T02:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=299227"},"modified":"2021-05-17T14:50:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T04:50:42","slug":"council-considers-clean-sweep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/05\/17\/council-considers-clean-sweep\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Considers Clean Sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Conquest XR ride-on street sweeper in action (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 17, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Filthy footpaths in the South Burnett’s CBDs may become less common if the South Burnett Regional Council decides to invest in commercial scrubbing equipment.<\/p>\n

At last week’s standing committee meeting, Councillors were told tests had recently been run on Murgon’s CBD footpaths to evaluate two footpath cleaning solutions – a Conquest XR electric outdoor cleaning machine and a pressure spray.<\/p>\n

The Conquest machine cleaned the footpaths in about an hour – much faster than staff could do the same job using existing equipment.<\/p>\n

The push for a footpath-cleaning solution follows complaints from Murgon traders that the town’s new CBD footpaths are quickly becoming filthy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At previous meetings, Councillors were told if traders wanted to clean footpaths themselves they could only use a mop, bucket and water.<\/p>\n

This was partly to preserve the seals on the new footpaths, and partly because if chemicals were used they could wind up in the town’s wastewater system.<\/p>\n

Cr Kathy Duff said she thought the idea of buying an automated street sweeper was a good idea.<\/p>\n

Apart from fixing problems with Murgon’s new footpaths, she doubted Proston’s footpaths had seen a full clean since they were laid a few years ago and the same applied in Nanango.<\/p>\n

Cr Kirstie Schumacher said she was impressed by the Conquest cleaner and would support investing in the machine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She said she recently watched two Council staff cleaning the Glendon Street forecourt with a gurney.<\/p>\n

While they had done an excellent job, the work had taken them an entire day to cover an area she estimated a single worker riding a Conquest machine could do in an hour.<\/p>\n

She believed the efficiencies and productivity boost Council would obtain could easily justify the cost of buying the machine.<\/p>\n

Mayor Otto agreed, noting that about nine months ago he had seen a team of three staff working hard to clean up footpaths in Kingaroy’s CBD.<\/p>\n

While that team had also done an excellent job, within a month the footpaths had reverted to their previous condition and the work needed to be done again.<\/p>\n

He said this was not only a bad outcome for residents and visitors but must be dispiriting for staff as well.<\/p>\n

He also reminded the meeting new footpaths were part of a planned upgrade for Blackbutt.<\/p>\n

Officers said if Councillors wanted to buy a Conquest machine, staff would need to build a business case, the same as they do for all Council’s plant and equipment purchases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, they thought the machine could be used on a “floating” basis around the region’s towns if it were bought.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure General Manager Aaron Meehan said his department had considered that if Council bought a Conquest machine, footpath cleaning could be stepped up to a more frequent level, possibly weekly.<\/p>\n

He also suggested Council would be able to undertake a full “spring clean” of all the region’s major town footpaths once a year rather than every two to three years as currently planned.<\/p>\n

This would involve applying reseals to coloured footpaths and repairing any cracks or other defects that had appeared.<\/p>\n

Councillors decided to revisit the issue during this year’s Budget discussions.<\/p>\n

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Photos from the Murgon street sweeping trial shown to councillors (Photos: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n