From the Mayor's Desk

Inglewood Aerodrome Masterplan

Recently, Council and The Australian Large Scale Models Club worked collaboratively to develop a masterplan for Inglewood Aerodrome and I’m delighted to share the news that Council signed off on the plan at the March Ordinary meeting held in Texas. The Club has been using the aerodrome for their fly-in events for a while now, and their on-going presence has a positive economic impact on the Inglewood community. The Club regularly organise events that feature aeromodelling of all shapes and sizes and these events draw many visitors from outside the region who spend money on local accommodation, food, and other services. In the future, the Club will invest in additional and improved facilities as part of its Master plan.

Street scaping Goondiwindi

Last week, I headed to Miles with a delegation of Councillors and Council officers. Our aim was to examine how the Western Downs Regional Council had integrated design elements into their street scaping projects, such as feature lighting, outdoor landscaping, and design aesthetics. We gained valuable insights that will inform our future plans. I want to express my thanks to the community once again for their active involvement in this lengthy process. We will require more community input soon as we move forward with this initiative.

Waste Management

In the upcoming editions of 'From the Mayor's Desk', I will be discussing waste management across our region.  It is a core service managed by Council and is not well understood, and has seen significant changes in recent years. We are expecting more changes to come as a result of state government targets and priorities.  Council are currently on track to spend $2.2m this financial year on waste management, which includes kerbside collections, management of illegal dumping and the waste transfer stations across the region. Whilst some of these costs are recouped through state government rebates and through rates and service fees, where we were once able to break-even, Council is now operating at a loss in this service area as a result of some of the state legislation relating to waste management.

Illegal dumping is increasingly becoming an issue.  Individuals dumping outside of our five regional transfer stations and two landfill sites has resulted in a significant cost to ratepayers, amounting to thousands of dollars each year. It is a serious problem that reflects poorly on the rest of the community who are doing the right thing. By increasing public awareness on responsible waste disposal, I’m hoping we can work towards reducing the financial burden on our communities.

Happy Easter to the Goondiwindi Region

With school holidays and the Easter long weekend upon us, it is a busy time of year, especially for parents with young children. During this period, many residents often travel away for the Easter break. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and safe Easter.