Barbara Moore has been recognised for her contributions over many years, our hospital at the top of a long list. Also those other two local yokels George and Tim were pictured with Barbara (Courier-Sun, Feb 5), well deserved boys.
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The next challenge to ensure the hospital doesn't burn down. The forest is encroaching from the west, and something must be done to protect our greatest asset, or should I have said our council admin centre (joke). Even our public school is vulnerable. Few would realise how close we came when the Anderson's Creek fire crossed the river and roared up the Horseshoe setting in place under the right conditions (prevailing at the time) an almost non-defensible run into Bellingen.
Mother nature or climate change came to the rescue. Every weather event these days, drought, flood, fire, wind, the lot is attributed to climate change and our Prime Minister. Forgotten is the fact that this country before the industrial revolution has a history of being ravaged by drought fire and flooding rains. Take note of recent events.
Darcey Browning
Thora
Mylestom Path
"Provide evidence of community consultation" is key criteria for councils when submitting proposals for Stronger Community Grants through the state government.
The first time many community members became aware of the Mylestom Pathway Project was over 12 months after the proposal had been submitted. BSC organized a 'drop-in' session for Mylestom residents in September 2019 to announce the construction of the pathway. Community opposition on the day was clearly evident and loud.
Council then belatedly provided opportunity for public comment on Create Website advising that comments would be taken into consideration. The results, since removed from public view, show a clear majority opposed to the concrete pathway cutting through the riverbank. Local residents also rallied and conducted a village-wide survey to gauge public opinion. 191 adults in the small community, another clear majority, oppose the pathway. This documented evidence of community consultation was presented to council.
A staffer advised a recent council meeting that the grant money should have been expended by August 2019, but an extension had been sought to June 2020.
How can this be true when the state government website clearly states that projects funded in August 2018 should be completed by August 2020.
How much were councillors briefed on accurate details before a questionably democratic vote on a proposal that had already been funded and announced on television? The majority of residents in Mylestom feel unheard and outraged by the lack of consultation and transparency.
Michael Lihou
Mylestom
Decision announced before the vote took place?
How is it that on January 28, the mayor publicly announced on television that the Mylestom Pathway Project would go ahead when it was not until the January 29 council meeting that Bellingen Shire Councilors voted on the future of the project?
The meeting on 29th was addressed by four community members, two in favour and two opposed to the pathway, then council staff provided some vague, if not questionable information, including an astonishing assurance that the pathway could be constructed without the removal of any trees. Councillors then had opportunity to speak and an amended proposal was put forward - a longer concrete pathway with a reduced width of 1.8 metres.
There are no plans or details for this amended option, no engineering or construction drawings, no environmental assessment, no report on how native trees will be saved and/or protected, no plan for the exact location of path, no certainty if and where the 14 picnic tables will be reinstalled. And yet, with this lack of relevant detail and lack of regard for majority public opposition to the proposal, five of the six councillors present voted to go ahead with the pathway. Thank you Cr Toni Wright-Turner for being the voice of reason, democracy and an environmental protector.
Lizzy Wilkins
Mylestom
Editor's Note
Mayor Dominic King denies that a decision about the Mylestom Pathway was announced prior to the council meeting on January 29.
He said the journalist asked him why the pathway had been requested and what benefits it would bring to the Mylestom community. He responded by explaining those benefits.
But this was not an announcement preempting the decision of the council meeting to choose among five options presented to the councillors, one of which was to return the funding and not build the pathway.
Setting Records Straight
Having read Bellingen Shire Council's January 29 Report on the 'Water Cloud' sculpture mooted for Dorrigo some misinformation needs challenging. In essence the report minimised the degree of opposition to the proposal and used carefully crafted words to misrepresent facts presented in a community-driven information sheet based on the supplied public consultation documents, the Artwork Proposal and Public Art Plan by Creative Road Consultancy.
The report author indicated the sculpture was exempt from planning controls except for one minor detail. The proposed sculpture would stand 6.5 metres. That makes it not exempt.
The report author completely negated potential misuse of the loading zones situated partly under the proposed sculpture, despite these being the only parking options large enough for motorhomes and cars towing caravans in Dorrigo CBD. Ignoring such logic will lead visitors with a $191+ fine and negative memories of the ill-conceived fantastical 'water cloud'.
The report author had an issue with the information sheet statement inferring it was misleading to interpret "RGB programmable lighting" as "programmable coloured lights". Instead, the author asserted the "intention is for soft white light consistent with clouds" despite this not being mentioned in the documents or illustrated in the colour photo provided showing the sculpture lit at night in yellow/reddish hues. Council may disagree but RGB in colour terminology stands for Red Green Blue. So who is actually misleading whom?
The biggest elephants in the room the report glossed over were the objection to the sculptures location by Essential Energy on safety grounds and the amount of space in the planned location to erect the necessary safety barriers for non-frangible structures (steel poles) to meet Australian Road Standards. The report again misleads the reader by inferring the centre median grassed area the sculpture is to be erected on is approximately 2.6m wide. However, when actually measured it is only 2.4m at its widest point leaving inadequate distance between the 141mm diameter poles and required barriers leaving the location most probably non-compliant with NSW safety standards. Cr. Fenton requested a model or further visual representation be provided to the council. This model must include the stipulated barriers to reveal the visual impact on heritage objects present.
BSC's Community Engagement Policy serves to create a desirable illusion by painting an accountable governance ethic, but I have concluded the reassuring words within have no commonalities with Councils actual willingness to genuinely respect community opinion. After culling 181 opposition petition signatories due to incomplete contact details the council still couldn't claim wide community support.
No matter the amount of slippery wording to dilute the facts an irrefutable 878 people were against the proposal while only 102 supported it. The council, including the mayor, seems intent on ignoring the wishes of the Dorrigo community and what tourists come to see in an indulgent grandiose act of self-promotion.
Glen Little
Dorrigo