Sue Brooks May 8th, 2010

This week Council has decided to try a committee based structure instead of the portfolio system which has operated for the last two years.  The Council will trial a three-committee structure for 12 months.
The Committees include –
•Development and Community Services Standing Committee chaired by Councillor Barbara Hovard;
•Infrastructure and Environment Services Standing Committee chaired by Councillor Linda Harris;
•Strategic and Organisational Services Standing Committee chaired by Gerard O’Connell.
All Councillors will be members of each of the Standing Committees.
•The Infrastructure and Environment Services Standing Committee will meet on the first Wednesday of each month in Hervey Bay;
•The Strategic and Organisational Services Standing Committee will meet on the third Wednesday of each month in Maryborough;
•The Development and Community Services Standing Committee will meet directly after the Council’s Ordinary Meetings on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.

I was nominated to Chair the Infrastructure and Environment Committee but Cr Harris received more votes so is Chair and Cr Hawes was nominated for the Strategic and Organisational Services Committee but was beaten by Cr O’Connell. The interesting situation is that the three Committee chairs and the Deputy Mayor all hail from either Maryborough or Tiaro. Maybe this new structure will help bring us together as a region and reduce the negativity against Hervey Bay, evident within some corners of our community. I support this new structure as it makes the Council decision making processes much more open and accountable and ensures that Councillors have the opportunity to vote on issues of importance to them and to the community.

I was also pleased to move the motion that was unanimously supported to expand the Hervey Bay Library by building a straightforward simply designed Gallery across the road. The new 700 square metre building for the gallery will be built on Old Maryborough Road. The Council has allocated $200,000 in its 2009/2010 budget and is proposing to allocate a further $3,250,000 in its 2010/2011 budget to finance internal refurbishment works in the Hervey Bay Library and to design and build the new Regional Gallery. These funds have been carried over from the old Hervey Bay City Council which had planned to extend the Library prior to amalgamation. The Council has also applied for $1.6 million from the Federal Government’s RLCIP funding program for the gallery. USQ will continue to share the library facilities. I attended the quilt and wallpaper exhibition openings last night at our current gallery and highly recommend that you pop in and view these marvellous creations.

Pier kiosk investigation
I finally decided to put a motion to Council this week to investigate this kiosk idea and was pleased that the concept was supported by almost everyone and investigations will go ahead. I believe a small kiosk designed to complement the heritage qualities of the pier could increase pier use and reduce bad behaviour on the pier. It could also provide an income stream for Council to assist with pier maintenance. Your ideas on this proposal will be important also to see if it progresses into a reality. Current and potential operators would be able to express interest and to eventually tender for rights to construct and operate the kiosk.

Lastly about the blow in. There has been much fuss about the Shen Neng1 coming to our waters. I am not fussing. This big boat has to be put somewhere. North of us is the GBR and South of us Moreton Bay. The Government has a problem and is doing its very best to solve the problem. I am very confident that the Government agencies are aware of the ocean bottom structure, (sand not coral or seagrass) and sea currents (they go North not South) and have chosen the location here as the least likely to cause environmental problems for the unloading of coal. The whales aren’t here in numbers yet and they know how to avoid moving ships let alone stationary ones. Yes there is a risk to the environment but that risk is great no matter where the boat is put. I’m not going to join in the clamour to relocate the ship elsewhere. The sooner the ship is unloaded and lightened and on its way away from us the better I believe.

Lastly I wish all mum’s a great mothers day. Enjoy your day and I wish you good health and happiness, Sue

• Council related issues , What do you think?
• Comments (10)

Sue Brooks May 3rd, 2010

Thank goodness for a long weekend practically free of Council related events etc. I think I’m nearly caught up with all things work related and even spent all day yesterday without turning on this PC or looking at my Blackberry more than once! Well twice really for the Bberry but even that little clever electronic bag of tricks was having a rest it seems.

It has been refreshing to get out into the garden and mow, weed and clean. Believe it or not I pressure washed the entire drive way over the last two days. I usually just do the outside sliding doors and windows but as Graham decided to clean the gutters (badly needed as they were merrily growing mini trees and things), I pressure washed them to clean the yuck off and one thing led to another so we actually now have an exposed aggregate driveway again rather than a black and slippery ugly looking thing. I do like pressure washers as they don’t use much water and really clean things quickly. I have give up the noisy blower thingy to preserve power and improve my fitness ( I sweep the old fashioned way) but I think the pressure washer is here to stay.

But today was back to the grind stone also as I had to read the board papers for our BMRG Board Meeting in Bundy tomorrow and the Council agenda for Wednesday.

So to the news. Lots ado about Henry and tax and about Council doing wrong by the SES some time back. I will ask questions about the SES issue so won’t comment further till I have some more facts but as I mowed and pressure washed I started thinking about tax and laws and government etc.

It seems that everywhere I go I hear people wanting their Governments to do more and more but they want to pay less and less. How do we resolve this issue? Locally people want more roads fixed and sealed, more footpaths and bikeways built, more drains fixed, more grass mowed, more money spent on economic activities and touristy stuff. We need a medical centre in Tiaro a conference / entertainment venue in the Bay and security cameras everywhere and … need I go on. At the same time I get asked to please not raise rates, to not levy infrastructure charges on developments and to keep fees and charges down as no one has enough money and the little that they do have they don’t want to give to Government.

So the real question for me, and I’m asking for comment please, is how do we decide what each layer of government should actually do and how do we fund it? I believe we have so much waste via duplication through the different layers of Government that one layer should go. Another thing I believe is that we need to really examine our health services and decide what we should spend money on. .  But I will debate this entire topic more fully over the coming weeks as I want to write more about it than will fit here.

I would like to end this post however with this idea. Greed is the problem that needs addressing most of all in our society. The BER and insulation schemes designed to be of benefit to us, failed primarily due to greed. People decided to ‘rort’ the system and make a quick profit. Opportunistic GREEDY people dived in and exposed glaring loopholes in the process for insulation installation and building buildings in some schools.

We complain about our consumer driven materialistic society as if it is a bad thing. Is it really a bad thing to want the latest invention which might be a new plasma TV? I don’t believe so. There is nothing wrong with consuming goods and services in fact our economy depends on us doing just that. What is wrong is when companies and organisations use our need to consume to make insane profits by exploiting overseas workers etc. I detest greed and I want my Government to tax greed. Expand the new mining ‘big profit’ tax and make it much harder for greedy people and greedy companies to be greedy! Everyone should be able to make a profit but that profit should be a  reasonable one.  How good would that be?

• What do you think?
• Comments (2)

Sue Brooks April 22nd, 2010

Firstly I must apologise for anyone needing an email or phone response from me. This week, and most of last week, has been wall to wall meetings and functions and I’m very behind in answering email and phone calls. Tomorrow is a no meeting day (yippee) so I plan to catch up.

This week Council accepted the reports from the Economic Development Advisory Committee and Maryborough Urban Renewal Reference Group.  The economic development group want to progress a conference type centre in Hervey Bay and will form a smaller group to help progress this.

Council received the Financial report for March which included a list of budget revisions. I decided to vote against this report as I don’t agree with the $500k transfer from reserves for employee costs. Council also received our amended operational plan and a quarterly report on implementation of our Corp Plan and Operational plans which is a good document to read in terms of understanding all the things that Council does and how well we are achieving our aims etc.

Council ratified ‘generally’ the recently amended seafront oval concept master plan which includes the currently being installed All Abilities Playground. This is being constructed where the temporary fencing is currently located.

We also approved our own application to extend the Tavistock complex to incorporate more space for staff and storage. We scaled back the project so the extra space will not be used to provide office space for Councillors or a new Council Chamber. Space in the building was an issue prior to amalgamation and is an even bigger problem now.

Councillor Dalgleish moved a motion to repeal or rescind the decision made at the meeting last week in relation to the tenders for the management of some of the Council owned cravan parks. Cr Muckan seconded this motion and after much debate the recision motion was lost. Councillors against the motion to rescind included myself, Crs Hawes, McNeven, Hovard and Arthur with the remaining Councillors voting for. The Mayor didn’t have a casting vote as per the LGA, so the motion was lost. I am glad that the tenders can now be finalised as per the decision made last week.

In the confidential session of the meeting decisions were made in relation to Council controlled land and options for the ’structure’ of Council now that the Director of Development Services position is vacant.

The most newsworthy item I have left for last and involves the future upgrading of the Maryborough Swimming Complex. Council has committed to a budget and included plans to retain a 50m length pool within the upgrades. I fully supported this unanimous decision as it was clear that the community strongly values a 50m pool and I’m pleased that we can support their wishes. In the newspaper today there was part of a quote I read out at the meeting that I thought was interesting in light of the debate about the pool. So I will conclude this post with the quote by Shane Gould….

I think lap swimming is done by many, many people other than dedicated Olympic or competitive swimmers so I don’t fully agree with Shane but I do think her comments are food for thought. I wish there was more land available at the complex to allow more variation in the eventual outcome. Cheers, Sue

ORDINARY Aussie swimmers are being forced into “boring” pools for the benefit of an elite few, says triple Olympic gold medallist Shane Gould.

Gould said Australia’s public pools were boring rectangular boxes because they were built for those “copying” the Olympics.

“Unfortunately, for most of the population, swimming for nationalistic projects is preventing more use of swimming pools,” she said.

“The reason this sort of pool is designed this way is to find and nurture the golden fish . . . I was a golden fish. Lap swimmers are just copying what the Olympic model prescribes.”

Speaking at an event in Melbourne yesterday, she said only 40 Australian swimmers went to the Olympics every four years.

“While that’s the peak experience of a swimmer’s career, why should everyone else pay for it?” she said. “Rather than modelling it on competitive swimming, model it on everyday swimming.”

Gould said instead of pools being rectangular boxes divided into lanes with ropes and black lines, they should be built to mimic nature, with uneven surfaces, curved, muddy edges, overhangs and moving waters.

This would make swimming pools more interesting and multi-purpose, helping people to swim confidently in natural environments, where most drownings occur.

http://www.news.com.au/national/shane-gould-slams-boring-olympic-pools/story-e6frfkvr-1225852990667

• Council related issues
• Comments (7)

Sue Brooks April 19th, 2010

Council life has been very busy this last week so my comments are really old news. At the Planning and Development meeting last Wednesday Council rejected an application to develop land adjacent Anson’s Rd, Dundowran Beach. Main Roads had directed Council to reject the proposed development due to impacts on that road network but I was pleased with the Council decision none the less. I believed the application was over development for this area and the fact that Council received over 250 submissions asking Council to say ‘no’ demonstrates the strong community feelings against the development.

Other news from the meeting includes -

Town Planning report for March 14 April 2010

During March 2010, 82 Town Planning applications were received and 86 applications finalised. They included – 

• 39 Material Change of Use
• 9   Reconfiguring a lot
• 3   Combined applications
• 21 Operational works
• 3   Building under planning scheme
• 8   Negotiated decisions/changes/extensions
• 3   Compliance assessments

 The total number of applications since 1 July 2009 is 584.

Telecommunication towers approved

Approval, subject to conditions, was given to the erection of two telecommunications facilities by Optus Mobile Pty Ltd  – one at 612-646 River Heads Road, River Heads and the other at Lot 915 Poona Road, Poona. Consideration was given to the visual impact and the proximity of the facilities to existing residences and park residential land.

 Council defers its building extension application

An application by the Fraser Coast Regional Council for a Development Permit to extend its Tavistock Street administration centre in Hervey Bay was deferred to the next Council meeting for consideration so that the Development Services staff could review amended plans that had recently been submitted and provide an amended report to Council for its consideration.

Consultation process under way for Hervey Bay Structure Planning Projects

A series of stakeholder and public meetings were held this week as part of the consultation process for the Hervey Bay Structure Planning Projects. The plans apply to two areas zoned “Emerging Communities” in the Hervey Bay Planning Scheme that are identified as follows –

• The Eli Waters/Dundowran Structure Plan Area;
• The Doolong Flats/Ghost Hill and Kawungan Northeast/Main Street Structure Plan Area.

Both meetings were well attended and provided positive and valuable feedback for the projects.

Submission lodged to LGAQ Public Enquiry on the need for a State Population Policy

The Fraser Coast Regional Council has lodged a submission to the LGAQ Public Inquiry on the need for a State Population Policy.

The submission outlines the challenges faced in the Fraser Coast Region and asks that consideration be given to a number of matters including –

• The ability to accommodate population growth in a sustained manner, taking into consideration Wide Bay Burnett’s demographic profile that highlights an increasing aged population, accompanied by identified disadvantage in terms of productivity levels, household income and unemployment. Wide Bay Burnett’s population is projected to increase by 137,000 by 2031;
• The region’s natural birth rate is below replacement rates so migration to the region of the appropriate age groups needs to be encouraged;
• The disproportionate number of aged people residing within the Fraser Coast and its effect on the provision of suitable infrastructure, specific transport requirements, health, housing and other support services;
• The percentage of the population that is transient;
• Population distribution within the Fraser Coast Region;
• The need to attract young families to the region and keep them here;
• The need for further industry, education and health services and the relocation of government services to regional areas;
• The effects from the loss of state government subsidies.

The full submission can be accessed in the Planning and Development Committee meeting agenda for 14 April 2010 on the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s website- www.frasercoast.qld.gov.au

Change of date for Burrum Heads community briefing

The Council’s community briefing that was to be held on 24 May at the Burrum Heads Community Hall has been deferred to 31 May to allow Councillors and staff travelling to the Fraser Coast’s Chinese sister city Leshan to attend. The briefing starts at 5.30pm.

 We also received the news that Bundaberg and other Councils didn’t receive any extra funding from the State Government re amalgamation costs. Our Council believed that we would not have qualified for extra funding and the recent State Government decision supports our view.

Lastly there was an item dealt with in confidential relating to the awarding of successful tenders for our beach front caravan parks. The decision on the Scarness and Torquay was made but the Pialba Caravan park tender is to be finalised next week.

• Council related issues
• Comments (2)

Sue Brooks April 10th, 2010

Last night Graham and I enjoyed the opening of two new exhibitions at the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery. I am continually amazed at the depth of talent that we have here within our very own community and I recommend that you all pop in and view the exhibitions and in particular the works by local artist Mr Ben Gerdsen. http://www.herveybayregionalgallery.org.au/26/Current+Exhibitions/191/Beyond+Decorative

After leaving the Gallery we decided to grab a bite to eat at Thai Diamond at Scarness. It was approx 8.30pm and we were sad to note that many of the restaurants we drove past were all but empty. Retail sellers also are telling us that times are tougher than last year. Our own business has not had as ‘good’ an Easter as we have experienced in past years. I haven’t noticed as many interstate licence plates on cars on our roads either and note that accomodation establishments are reporting that times are tough with higher than desired vacancy rates.

So I ask that if you can possibly afford it please do patronise our local small businesses. While small businesses can tighten the proverbial belt they still have to pay staff, rents and ongoing overheads etc and it is very sad to see businesses fail. By just going out for a meal now and then and spending our hard earned dollars locally we can do our bit to help these businesses survive so that our community continues to thrive and prosper.

So to Council -

STRUCTURE PLANNING

This Monday evening there is a community meeting scheduled to inform interested residents about the Structure Planning process that is being undertaken for land between Dundowran and Eli Waters as well as land at Doolong Flats and Ghost Hill. This planning process is to decide where we want our major connector roads and drains etc to be located when this land is developed. I am very pleased that Council is committed to this process as forward planning our development should mean much better road connectivity and drainage and other service provision than has occurred in some areas in the past. The public meeting is at The Hervey Bay Hotel, 249 Esplanade, Pialba at 6pm. Council has a new web site and more information can be found there rather than me copying it all here. If you visit the web site and click on the Latest News link you should find the detailed information. http://www.frasercoast.qld.gov.au

Council can now be followed on twitter and I encourage those that don’t want to tweet to sign up for the electronic newsletter. There is much information about Council and many opportunities for community participation so do visit the new web site and have a look around.

Lastly I thought I might take a swing at the petition doing the rounds. I am all for public discussion and public communication but please ‘think before you sign’ may be a worthy motto. The petition currently doing the rounds is calling for Council and the CEO and the administration to be sacked! Now if the petition included evidence and grounds to support the call for a mass sacking I would take it seriously but it doesn’t. I understand people are dissatisfied with Council as I hear the constant pleas for Council to fix everything today and to somehow do this while not putting up rates and fees and charges.

In other words I’m a tiny bit cranky. Council has faced enormous challenge to make the best of a change the majority of us didn’t want. Council is not perfect and we don’t get everything right all of the time but from where I sit things are constantly improving. Customer service has improved, financial management is excellent and I believe the leadership of staff under our CEO is aligned with Councillors  expectations and we are delivering a good standard of service to our community.

I hear moans that we are losing development. Well from reading widely I find that this is the case nation wide and we are in fact better off than many other cities and towns. I definitely won’t be voting to support development that is not of good quality and in line with Planning Scheme requirements as I don’t want cheap low quality inappropriate development within this region. While I support a period of discounting of infrastructure charges to provide a buffer in this tough economic climate, Council cannot comtinue to subsidise development unless we raise rates. At the end of the day someone has to pay for our roads, our rubbish collection and disposal, our drains and our bridges and everything else that the community demands and desires.

I hear calls now in the local paper for more events. Council spends hundreds of thousands of dollars currently on events and tourism related activities and if we are expected to spend more then I ask that someone looks closely at our budget and explains to me where we can take the money from. This is but one example of requests made to Council and I shudder when I think of all the road and footpath works we need to do and the simple lack of funds to dedicate to these works. The State Government has reduced funding which exacerbates our problems.

So Mr Primavera if you want the Council ’sacked’ can you provide me with some solid evidence that Council is broken and beyond repair please?

• Council related issues , General News
• Comments (8)

Sue Brooks April 8th, 2010

Just a quick question. When you consider all that Council does from roads to drains, to parks to community services eg libraries and galleries and events and tourism and economic related activities could I pose a quick question. Not forgetting we need staff to provide the services to all of us and a HR dept and and IT dept etc could I ask you to tell me how you would like us to prioritise our spending.

To put it simply. If you have $100 how much of that $100 do you want to see used in which areas? How much on roads, how much on our coast, our community services etc?

Here is an example of one persons ideas..

On salary increase and perks for employees at all levels from

Mayor to street sweeper               $0.00

 On fun parks, water worlds, and ‘tourist attractions’ -               $0.00

(If commercial operators want to attract tourists let them

spend their own dollars not ours.)

 On new better or improved buildings for council meetings          $0.00

 On improving existing drainage, sewerage, and water                             $10.00

 On improvements and maintenance of existing roads                 $20.00

 On provision of footpaths in established areas                          $20.00

 On provision of a better bus service including destinations

Apart from shopping centres during out of shopping hours

And by way of ‘Kango’style door to door flexible service            $5.00

Wherever appropriate.

 On improving parks, libraries, and other existing services           $5.00

 On wages, overheads, and anything I forgot, the remaining       $50.00

$100.00

No contribution by ratepayers to the infrastructure costs

Of commercial undertakings and as little as possible to

New subdivisions.   Let those standing to make profit

Fund the costs of so doing. If they go elsewhere, good.

 No, Karl Marx was no relative.   Just see no reason why

The poor old taxpayer should support developers of

Any kind.  “Creating employment” is the province of

Employers, not taxpayers.  Nor legislators and governments

At any level.

• What do you think?
• Comments (3)

Sue Brooks April 5th, 2010

I hope everyone has had a restful and pleasant Easter and that the waistline hasn’t taken a pounding as mine has. I am sure I will need a couple of weeks back on the Tony Ferguson programme to make up for the hot cross buns and chocolate that I can’t resist during Easter time.

Annoyingly negativity seems to be still taking centre stage within some sections of our community and the recent publicity about a petition to sack the CEO and sack Councillors currently doing the rounds is upsetting if not somewhat amusing. I’m all for community involvement and raising public awareness about issues but to call for a sacking I would think, would require some evidence about why? This current petition has no basis to back up it’s demands. If it did list some factual reasons as to why Council should be dismissed I would be all ears. Financially we are in a healthy position and we are spending more of our capital works budget this year than we did our first year so from where I sit we are doing OK.  As always there is room for continual improvement but we need to dig down and find out whether community dissatisfaction is based on perception or reality. If there is cause for discontent lets identify it, examine it and analyse  ways to fix it.

Swimming against the tide…..

I’m not sitting on the fence re the pool issue. Rather I support the community in its collective voice about retaining a 50m pool in Maryborough. What I regret, in hindsight, is the way Council approached this issue. Instead of collectively going out to the entire community with several options and associated costings we directed staff to consult with the Swimming Club with the now infamous ‘preferred plan’.

I have read the submission presented to Council via the Swimming Club and look forward to their presentation to us on Wednesday. Publicly I believe it is my duty to await more facts and figures prior to declaring my ‘decision’ on the future pool upgrade. I do unequivocally support the community in its desire to retain a 50m pool. What I fear has been lost in the emotionally charged debate is the ability for us to examine the site and examine best use outcomes for the complex. If the primary reason of the complex is to facilitate 50m training and competitions requiring a 50m length then it stands to reason we retain a 50m facility.

In doing this we will lose some options to introduce other water based options within the grounds. So while we all tend to think traditionally in that a 50m pool is an essential item I was still keen to explore if in these modern day times a 50m pool is still an essential item. It seems that it is, so now we will have to face the reality of a design that incorporates a pool of this size and figure out what else is essential  in terms of upgrading facilities in a way in which we can afford. Maybe firstly the 50m pool and the kiosk and changing rooms and we leave the other 2 pools alone and don’t alter the site plan? Whatever we do decide the final decision will be made based on as much data and as much public input as is possible. Don’t forget to raise $5m is about a $105 levy per rate property across the region.

Many other water based facilities incorporate ‘play’ activities and other water based activities and don’t have the facilities for swimming training. I have heard of many non Bay residents visiting Hervey Bay to try out the water park which has no pool at all. How many families visit ‘pools’ simply for recreation and learning to swim related activities? My daughter enjoyed diving and undertook diving training when we lived in Darwin at one of the pools there. I spent many hours as a child diving off the local springboard and find it very sad that due to safety concerns a diving board has practically become extinct at all public pools! The sad thing for me on visiting the Maryborough site is its small size and the lack of opportunity to be more flexible. The challenge for all of us is to find out how to make the best use of this patch of ground to suit the majority of users. I’m sure that if we work together and listen to each other we can succeed.

• Council related issues
• Comments (12)

Sue Brooks March 30th, 2010

I spent the weekend on Fraser Island as part of the annual ‘joint meeting’ where the community, indigenous and scientific advisory groups all come together to share information and discuss Fraser Island related issues in general. Two of the main topics discussed were the potential impacts on Fraser Island of climate change and also the State Government planned extension to the heritage area to include parts of Cooloola to the South of FI. We also visited Lake McKenzie to see the redevelopment happening there. Concern was expressed about the potential sediment run off from the new car park making its way to the waters of the lake. I trust that this will be dealt with as construction progresses. I must note however that the new mode of travel to Fraser via bus and then barge rather than direct from the Marina isn’t as pleasant a journey as in the past. I don’t think visitors will appreciate the extra travel and inconvenience especailly if only wanting to pop over to Kingfisher for the day!

Back on the main land I am pleased to say that from all accounts the Cultural Festival was another success this year. Hans and his volunteers have done an excellent job and the festival is rapidly growing to become a premier event within our region. I am very disappointed that I missed most of it and will choose the festival next year if I suffer the same clash of dates!

Council has called for nominations for the Environmental awards so I urge you all to take a look at the categories and nominate yourselves or individuals and groups that have worked towards protecting and preserving our natural environment during the year. This year we have some valuable sponsorships for the awards which I very much appreciate. I’m also pleased that we have introduced a category for the ‘best’ building site. Check out the Council home page for more details.

Population growth is being discussed more and more it seems thses days which I find thoroughly pleasing. I have long held the belief that continually growing more humans is not in our long term best interests so the sooner we all deal with this issue the better off the planet and our descendants will be. I enjoyed listening to Dick Smith recently as he seems to be a late comer to the debate but has quickly realised how important it is. If you have the time please do peruse this site and listen to Dick!

http://www.population.org.au/

Cheers, Sue

PS More rain… and here I was contemplating a quick snorkel this arvo! I do hope we get some fine weather over Easter..

• Uncategorized
• Comments (1)

Sue Brooks March 23rd, 2010

So sorry David that you will no longer be working for our Council. I have always found you to be a hard worker and a fair person. You have always shown strength in leadership and you expect hard work and honest effort from your staff . You have also shown strength of character while leading  the Planning and Development Services department, a department which sometimes bears the brunt of  less than professional behaviour from those with whom it deals .

I believe Council, especially our staff, and the wider community will be the poorer for your departure so I hope that your future brings nothing but happiness for you and your family. It would be nice to think you could stay here on the Fraser Coast and contribute further to making our community a strong and happy one but wherever you travel I hope you receive a warmer welcome than you have received here of late. I like to believe in ‘Karma’ and trust that those who work hard and live an honest life will be one day rewarded. I am sure that you qualify!

Take care and all the best, Sue

• Uncategorized
• Comments (1)

Sue Brooks March 21st, 2010

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the USQ production of Twelfth Night at The Brolga theatre. The evening was very enjoyable and the students can be proud of the professional manner in which they presented Shakespeare to us. A shame that we couldn’t sit on the grass on a balmy warm evening and enjoy an outdoor production but I was just as happy indoors. The evening marked the start of our Fraser Coast cultural week with the festival swinging into gear throughout the week. Next weekend will see the festival on the foreshore at Scarness and the Harmony performance at The Brolga. Both events should be a must see. http://www.frasercoastculturalfestival.org.au/

This week Councillors met with the new board members of Wide Bay Water Corp and I am personally very pleased with the personal experience and skill that these individuals are bringing to our region. I expect that our community will reap the benefits of a new very well experienced and independent board. We have challenging times ahead with less financial assistance from the State Government, in terms of monies for infrastructure, so it is good to know that our new Board members are very keen to work closely with Council to bring about positive results for our community.

Interesting coverage in the Chronicle about our Councillor Blackberry use. I am primarily an emailer rather than a ‘chat on the phone person’ so my charges are reduced as email costs less than talking does. It is essential for Councillors to have quick and easy communication tools at their disposal however so the list didn’t surprise me.

So to wind up the weekend with some pool news. I visited the pool yesterday unannounced and chatted to some pool users and watched the activity there. For a cool morning the pool was busy. It is a small piece of land without too much room to spare and the changing rooms etc have obviously passed their use by date, but the complex is obviously well used and cared for as it was very clean. I noted the fact that no one sunbakes these days so the need for expansive lawns seems much less essential than in my youth. It would be nice I thought, to have more room and space for trees and shaded lawns, but it seems functionality is the primary concern of the community.

An elderly gentleman was slowly swimming lap after lap (I was told he is in his nineties..amazing) and some women were doing water aerobic training also up and down the 50m length of the pool. The learn to swim classes were in full swing in the smaller pool and the sight and sound of all those little bodies enjoying their time in the water with mum and/or dad was uplifting. Maybe there is a future Olympic champion in the making amongst them?

I’m glad the cyclone has passed with no major damage and that we are receiving soaking but not flooding rains! Take care and have a cosy and safe Sunday. Sue

PS There has been one or two comments recently that I have either edited or trashed. The first time really that I have decided not to publish a contributed comment. I have attempted to email the contributor with no success so if your comment doesn’t appear on this blog it is because I have deemed it unsuitable. I detest censoring your comments and mostly refrain from doing so but simply calling people names and saying derogatory things about a community is not worthy of publicity in my opinion. So can we keep to fair criticism of myself and each other but include suggestions for change also? While there is a benefit in being able to comment anonymously I believe there is also a responsibility to remain polite, respectful and truthful. Cheers, Sue

• General News
• Comments (4)