With just one guest in the gallery and everyone else watching the Ordinary Council meeting of November 13th, 2018 via live streaming the Mayor and six councillors (Brown and Constable absent) ripped through the agenda having just heard one lone speaker present in Public Access on the issue of kids swimming at the Moruya Wharf much to the chagrin of boaters who would love to see signs up saying "No Swimmers" that would enable police to move them on pressing that Council acknowledge the risk of mixing swimmers and boating. Council did recognise this as a risk and signs will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. Getting down to business in what was only a twenty minute meeting the first issues discussed was around the loss of opportunity that would see "a paltry sum" of $120,000 found by the State Government to have extended the new carpark at the Tuross Head intersection. Councillor Pollock acknowledged that from the perspective of anyone looking on it was seen as an opportunity and he understood the frustration when it is observed by the community as an opportunity that results in disappointment.
He noted that the community were "sick and tired" of seeing all levels of government not be able to come through with such opportunities when it didn’t mean a lot of money and just required a degree of flexibility Councillor Thompson identified that the issue came about through advocacy of the Disability Committee and should still be pursued with the Mayor agreeing to Councillor Pollock's view of the frustration around the rigidity of the bureaucratic process Council works under. Councillor Mayne reiterated that it was an important issue and acknowledged the RMS saying that "this was about enhancing the intersection due to three tiers of politics working in harmony" He celebrated the winfall of now having a carpark whilst recognising that people were still risking crossing the Princes Highway to the busstop on the other side recognising the similarity with the Dalmeny highway bustop. . "This woud be a wonderful initiative for other bodies able to pursue – – what a great opportunity for the State Government to see this extra work done."
On the agenda item of the proposed NRMA recharge station for the Batemans Bay Visitors Centre Councillor Mayne recognised the efforts of fellow councillor Jack Tait and said it was an important initiative of establishing an e-highway. Adding to the resolution to accept two public art sculptures that will see them placed on the Sculpture walk in Batemans Bay the Mayor moved to increase the allocation of $5000 for installation to $20,000 for solar lighting to Dance, Portal and Buoyancy When asked why the increase from $5000 to $20000 Director Arthur advised that quotes had been sought withindicative quotes of up to $25,000 however Council has been advised by the Batemans Bay Business and Tourism Chamber that they were happy to contribute $5000 to the lighting project. Of interest was the report offered by Councillor Thompson of a recent conference he attended declaring it "a bit underdone" Offering a summary of the conference Councillor Thompson stated The Australian Regional Development Conference was interesting in some ways, but I did not leave feeling totally satisfied that it was value for money. Considering the scope of subjects that could have been discussed, the conference felt a bit under done. I don't think I would be keen to attend another one. The networking evening, although small was valuable as these things usually are. It is always valuable to meet people from other Shires and professions and trade ideas and insights. The take away thought of the conference is that for regional Australia to continue to grow and thrive we need to drive intelligent forward thinking strategic planning and we need to make sure we are explaining to our communities the reasons for the direction we are taking them.
