From the Mayor's Desk - 11 June 2020

I am extremely pleased this week to be able to congratulate Care Goondiwindi on the news that they will receive more than half a million dollars in federal funding to establish a new disability respite care facility in Goondiwindi. I’m sure residents will agree that this facility is much-needed within the region and that it will make an enormous difference to local families. In addition, the project will provide additional local jobs not only during the construction phase, but throughout the lifetime of the facility. This is such a well-deserved success for Care Goondiwindi that will also benefit our community as a whole.

In Inglewood last Friday, I announced that Council will be refunding Food Business Licence fees, and yesterday in Texas, we announced the waving of fees for non-residential pedestal (toilets) for local businesses impacted by COVID-19. I can now confirm that Council will also be revealing even more additional relief measures targeted to affected industries in the coming weeks. These measures will be automatically applied for eligible local businesses and will require no application process to ensure that nobody misses out.

As the COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease, Council can now begin to plan for when the annual meetings in Inglewood and Texas will be held this year. I will announce those dates as soon as we have certainty about when larger gatherings can occur.

In other news, in recent weeks Council has secured almost $9 million in external funding for roads and other community-owned infrastructure in the Goondiwindi region. Council staff have been working with both State and Federal Governments to determine which local projects will benefit from these allocated funds - you can expect announcements on the confirmed projects to follow shortly.

Finally, at the start of the fortnight Council amended the permitted watering hours under each water restriction level in response to community feedback. Although the times are now more flexible than before, neither the actual number of permitted hours nor the water consumption targets have changed. Residents and businesses in Goondiwindi, Texas and Yelarbon should have received a mail-out this week from Council to confirm the changes to their respective water restriction levels. Our minds may have been elsewhere in recent months, but I must remind residents that the Goondiwindi region is still very much drought declared. I personally ask that we continue to consider and conserve our water use where possible.

Hon. Lawrence Springborg, AM
Mayor
Goondiwindi Regional Council