RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP
Council approved an Inspection Program to be carried out across the Shire to ensure that the owners of dogs comply with the registration requirements under the Animal Management Act (Dogs and Cats) Act 2008.
The purpose of the program is also to ensure that owners comply with their duty to provide a proper enclosure to prevent the animal from wandering as per Council’s Local Law (Animal Management) 2011.
Mareeba Shire Council Mayor Tom Gilmore is strongly urging residents to ensure their dogs are registered with Council and comply with regulations. “There are serious fines for dogs that are roaming at large, and if they’re unregistered of course there are even more serious consequences,” Cr Gilmore said.
“While your dogs may be friendly to humans, they aren’t at all friendly to other animals, especially wildlife and we have seen horrific damage been caused by domestic dogs.”
Council recently conducted an Approved Inspection Program near the Mareeba Golf Club with positive outcomes.
“The program proved to be successful with many residents registering their dogs, and property enclosures were inspected to ensure compliance,” Cr Gilmore said.
“Furthermore, the instances of wallabies being savaged on the Golf Club have now stopped.”
The program will commence 1 April 2017 and terminate 1 July 2017. It will be conducted between the hours of 6.30am and 7.00pm, Monday to Sunday, with the majority of inspections to be carried out during normal working hours. While the program is Shire-wide, the focus will be on the Speewah, Kuranda and Mt Molloy areas.
BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES
Council is committed to supporting the vital role that not for profit community, cultural, recreational and sporting groups play in the shire’s towns and districts, making them places where people want to live, work, invest and visit.
After the completion of a comprehensive review of Council’s community leasing arrangements, amendments made to the Council Community Leasing Policy, Rate Rebate and Remission Policy and the Community Partnerships Program Policy were approved by Council today.
The Community Leasing Policy will now mean that community organisations can lease Council land onto the same footing bringing equity and allowing them to manage and take care of these facilities as they see fit.
Council will provide assistance to eligible community groups by way of general property rate and charge remissions (for sewerage charges, water access charges, waste management levy and rural fire levy).
COMMUNITIES TO MANAGE FACILITIES
Council today approved a new policy for the management of halls and associated facilities by community groups.
Mayor Tom Gilmore said that the intent of this initiative is to enable the respective communities to take control of the utilisation and operation of facilities. This will then ideally see the increase the use of the halls and facilities.
“Council recognises the significant community benefits to be gained by supporting the community management of halls and associated facilities across the Shire,” Cr Gilmore said.
The community management of halls is a commitment by Council to re-position community halls in local communities.
“Community groups responsible for the management of local halls have intimate knowledge of how best to manage the hall to increase usage in ways that best suit their needs,” Cr Gilmore said.
“The Mutchilba Community Centre and Koah Sports Hall has been successfully managed by community groups for some time now, and there usage has gone up considerably, and we would like to see this phenomenon across the Shire.”
WORKING TOGETHER FOR BETTER ROADS
Councils across Far North Queensland have worked together to secured a better deal for all Councils across the region.
The Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (FNQROC) invited suitably qualified suppliers to quote for the supply and delivery of a collective regional asphalt overlay programme.
Council awarded the contract to Boral Resources (Qld) Pty Ltd by the indicative works program and applied pricing for an estimated contract value of $474,629.29.
Mayor Tom Gilmore said that Council undertakes its annual asphalt overlay program to maintain and upgrade its road network to a suitable standard and extend the life of its existing road infrastructure.
“In the past four years, the overlay programs were delivered under a collective procurement arrangement coordinated by FNQROC. The collective arrangement has enabled participating member Councils to not only eliminate the risk of individual Councils competing against each other for limited supplier resources but to be able to get reduced prices as a result of being able to buy in bulk,” Cr Gilmore said.
WASTE COLLECTION
In conjunction with neighbouring Councils, it was decided to collaborate in a joint procurement effort to seek tender submissions for new waste and recycling collection contract arrangements, with an output of a separate contract for each Council.
Mareeba Shire Council today awarded the waste collection tender to JJ Richards and Sons Pty Ltd for the period from 18 December 2017 to 17 December 2026. As this is our current contractor, ratepayers will see very little, if any change in their service.
This contract has provision to cater for recycling in the future. The Container Refund Scheme, set to be introduced in July 2018, will have an impact on recycling and the Material Recovery Facility in Cairns. As a result Council is unable to obtain a definitive price for the disposal of the recycled material and hence cannot calculate what the cost of a kerb side recycling collection would cost ratepayers. Once these numbers are finalised, Council will be in a better position to evaluate this option and engage with the community.