Mayor Beresford’s February 2025 Council Meeting Wrap-up

Mayor Beresford’s February 2025 Council Meeting Wrap-up

It was a large agenda for the February Council meeting held on Tuesday 18th February and planning documents included in the agenda show the extensive amount of work Council is undertaking over the next few months and beyond.

Community Grant Approvals

• SWQACCAS – waiver of Shire Hall hire fees for 1st March 2025
• Cunnamulla Golf Club – grant of $2,000 towards “Come & Try Day” on 15th March 2025
• Cunnamulla Golf Club – in-kind support for dry hire of grader, backhoe and positrack including bucket and slasher for two days with Council staff volunteering to operate the machines
• Cunnamulla Triathlon Club – provision of electronic roadside sign and grant of $2,000 towards Inter-town Triathlon on 5th & 6th April 2025
• Eulo Gymkhana & Motorbike Club Inc – grant of $2,000 and in-kind support for dry hire of water truck for 19th & 20th April 2025.

Community Consultation Action Items

The Action Items Register from the four Community Consultation Meetings held late last year are updated and tabled at each Council Meeting. Any items completed and closed out are shaded grey.   Community members can view the action taken on individual issues raised at the meetings by checking the Meeting Agendas on the Council website.

Funding Applications

Council resolved to submit funding applications under the following grant programs: -

• Qld Climate Resilient Communities Grant Program – to update the flood mitigation study throughout Paroo Shire
• Disaster Ready Fund R3 - levee bank upgrade; provision of flood cameras; dedicated IT connection from Shire Hall to Local Disaster Co-ordination Centre (CCEC)

Major Projects

• Work being undertaken by Trazlbat is continuing with the replacement of water main pipes in Cunnamulla. This project will be completed by the end of March this year.
• Work has commenced on the supply and installation of the SCADA telemetry and Electrical Renewal system for the Cunnamulla bores.
• The Restoration of Essential Public Assets (REPA) work continues under the supervision of Shepherd Services. Local contractors are currently finalising roadworks in connection with the September 2022 extreme weather event and the Council has called for tenders to undertake the roadworks damaged in the January 2024 event. Shepherd Services are now collecting road damage data from December 2024 severe storm for submission to the Qld Reconstruction Authority. It is planned to have some Shire roads maintenance work carried out by local contractors in conjunction with the January 2024 REPA work.

Tourism Strategic Plan 2025-2030

Council endorsed in principle a Tourism Strategic Plan for 2025 – 2030. The Council will now be seeking consultation and feedback on the plan from the local tourism industry stakeholders before it is formally adopted.Policy Review

Council has reviewed and updated the Administrative Action Complaint Policy and adopted a new policy relating to Unreasonable Customer Conduct. Both the updated and new policies will be added to the list of Council policies shown on the website.

Human Resources

During this month the Council has been advertising for two positions, namely, a Director of

Infrastructure and an Infrastructure Operations Manager. Both these positions close on Monday 17th March 2025. During January there were 7 new recruitments: –

• 2 multi-skilled operators
• 2 casual labourers
• Interim Director of Infrastructure,
• 1 administration trainee for reception
• 1 administration officer/IT trainee.

To obtain more information, please refer to the Paroo Shire Council’s website www.paroo.qld.gov.au where the agenda and minutes of all Council meetings are posted. To subscribe to the eNewsletter group click on News & Events then click on Newsletters and sign up.

Contacting Council – should residents wish to contact Council regarding any matter, whether it’s an enquiry, reporting an issue, making a suggestion or lodging a complaint, please use the email council@paroo.qld.gov.au