NEWS

King Island Mayor Julie Arnold reports on the September month of meetings and Council workshops.

Councillor Working Groups:

Councillors agreed in late August that there were a number of issues which needed Councillor input and work over and above the normal workshops and Council meetings. It was agreed that the following groups would be set up and would continue until the issues concerned was solved:

• Answer to State Governments State-wide Waste Strategy paper
• Answer to State Governments Changes to Local Government Legislation
• Governance Issues and Recommendations.

The General Manager and Mayor are on all working groups with two Councillors. All councillors volunteered their time but the numbers were kept to two as follows:

Waste Group – Jim Cooper and Vernon Philbey

Legislation – Duncan McFie and Ian Allan

Governance- Luke Agati and Sarina Laidler.

I would like to publicly thank all Councillors for their willingness to expend the extra time needed to address these issues.

It has been agreed that if this format works it will be used for further issues as they arise.

Waste Management:

Strategies to deal with waste generated on the island is a major issue Council is grappling with. During the month three areas were worked on:

1. State-wide Waste Strategy and Waste Levy proposed by the State Government. The Councillor working group responded to the proposed legislation by advising State Government that because of our location and freight costs King Island saw few benefits in the proposal. Should a Waste levy be introduced we would want all the money collected from our area spent on our area.
2. Draft King Island Waste Strategy. This was workshopped by all Councillors and has now been made available for resident’s review and comment. Printed copies are available at several locations and at the Council; a copy is also on the Council website.

Your comments and suggestions are valued so please try to respond by 18^th October.

3. Councillors toured the Charles Street sites and Parenna landfill to increase our understanding of the areas and issues. We were all very impressed with the work which has been done and the clean and tidy state of both Charles Street and Parenna.

This was contrary to the general public impression of the areas and I have suggested that the General Manager organise some public tours so residents can also see the work which has been done.

Naracoopa Jetty:

Formal inspections of the jetty were carried out in early September and a plan to meet the expectations of the people fishing from the jetty discussed with Rod Fisher. Rod subsequently presented this to the Naracoopa Progress Association and council staff discussed the changes with the consultant engineers.

Dive teams inspected the jetty structure in mid-September and Council is currently awaiting finalisation of quotes for work to be carried out.

The aim is to have the jetty open for summer fishing.

Thanks are due to Rod Fisher for the time and energy he has spent on behalf of the community on this issue.

TasPorts and Bass Island Line:

Meetings continued with Steven Casey, (TasPorts Chief Operating Officer), and Ms Sally Darke (TasPorts Director and Chairman of Bass Island Line) to ensure King Island is listened to about the required capabilities of a new ship.

The King Island Shipping Group will also now formally align with Council to strengthen the King Island message.

TasPorts and the Currie Harbour Precinct:

TasPorts and Council have begun talks about the future plans for the Currie Harbour. This area, whilst a working port, has potential as a tourist attraction.

Possible Defence Force Exercise:

Council has been approached by the Defence Force Littoral Combat Directorate to discuss issues about involving King Island in a sea and land-based exercise in 2020. The exercise would extend from Geelong to Burnie.

Whilst there are advantages there also needs to be careful consideration of the environmental impacts of such an exercise. We are only in an information gathering stage at the moment.

Meet the Mayor – Grassy now to be included – and General Manager:

Since being elected, I have been available at the CWA Hall Currie every Friday afternoon from 2pm to 6pm. Because of requests from Grassy residents, I will begin spending one Friday a month at Grassy. This will be advertised in the Courier.

Greg Alomes is happy to join me should a resident have an issue they would like us to address jointly. Greg is also available by appointment at the Council Chambers at a time convenient to a resident.